A new YouTube campaign against bogus accident claims was launched recently in order to raise awareness of how fraudulent and spurious personal injury claims inflate insurance premiums for honest drivers, industry experts recently reported.
Aimed at public re-education, the new campaign’s goal is to put an end to the dubious practices in which some personal injury solicitors engage. Comprised of video clips that allow people learn the difference between spurious and justifiable claims, the campaign’s website has a list of fake cases to demonstrate the need for reform.
Some of the falsified claims highlighted by the campaign include claimants neglecting to disclose multiple personal injury claims, claimants that caused crashes by waving to people they collided with previously, or people claiming injuries for cars they were not actually in at the time of the incident. Such fraudulent or exaggerated claims are big business in the UK, as one car gang in London made £3 million from false claims before they were caught and jailed, battering their vehicles with baseball bats and causing accidents in order to maximise their payouts.
One of the campaign’s champions, solicitor John Spencer, commented that one of the things that makes him the most angry is when insurers accept referral fees from solicitors in order to provide these legal professionals with the names and personal details of customers who had been involved in accidents. This allows law firms to conduct aggressive and targeted marketing campaigns, making people feel that they can claim for nearly any injury, and has resulted in the legal system in the UK to become dysfunctional and devalued, Mr Spencer added.