Motor fraud costs £410m out of £840m total insurance fraud
Association of British Insurers (ABI) figures show that last year insurers detected more than 2,000 dishonest insurance claims each week worth more than £16m.
ABI figures show that in 2009:
122,000 fraudulent insurance claims were uncovered, up 14% on 2008. The value of these claims, at £840m, rose by 14% on the previous year.
Many of the 8,500 dishonest liability claims exposed involved bogus personal injuries. Examples of such frauds include:
Nick Starling, the ABI’s director of general insurance and health, said: “Reducing fraud remains an ongoing battle for the insurance industry. Our honest customers rightly object to having to pay higher premiums to subsidise the fraudulent minority, which is why insurers continue to up their game in the war on the cheats.
“Whether claiming against a third party for bogus personal injury or on their own insurance, fraudsters are more likely than ever to get caught, leading to more expensive and harder to obtain insurance and credit, and the possibility of a criminal record.”
The ABI is promoting the confidential Cheatline run by the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB).