Insurers say injury claims fraud is a developing problem

Industry news roundup: week ended 22 Sept 2014:

Fraudulent personal injury claims made against insurance policies are becoming more and more of a problem, according to the nation’s insurance providers.

In fact, according to insurers these criminal fraudsters are getting more and more brazen and inventive in their attempts to bilk cash out of supposedly hapless insurance companies. The newest thing that these scammers will try will probably surprise you: new research says that it’s no longer whiplash claims that are the go-to when it comes to fraud but instead industrial deafness claims instead.

The Insurance Fraud Bureau said recently that criminal gangs, which have usually been involved in ‘cash for crash’ road traffic accident claims have since packed up their bags and moved on to bigger and better things. There have been enough legislative changes to the industry that whiplash claims just aren’t profitable any more, and this has caused fraudsters to migrate to new areas – and the Association of British Insurers agrees with the IFB’s assessment.

Meanwhile it’s not just these highly organized rings of criminals that engage in insurance fraud – sometimes it’s the bloke next door. Well, at least the ABI seems to think so, as the industry body says that just regular everyday fraud – like not telling your insurer how many motoring convictions or previous claims you’ve had whilst making a new application – is occurring at record rates.

Apparently the ABI identified more than 180,000 instances of attempted fraud last year. That works out to nearly 500 applications with fraudulent information on them every day, and nearly all of these instances revolved around customers trying to pull the wool over the eyes of insurers in an attempt to save some cash.

Now I’m not condoning insurance fraud – far from it – but maybe this should be a message to insurers that their prices are too high. What do you think? If there were 180,000 applications put in last year that kept information from insurers in an attempt to get a cheaper policy price, that’s not exactly just a drop in the bucket. That sounds more like the situation is indicating that Brits have had enough of being soaked for as much cash as possible just for the so-called privilege of driving their own car. Honestly though ladies and gents, there are better ways to save cash on your insurance policy – don’t go breaking the law for a few quid!

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.

Back to Top ↑