Honesty is the only policy as insurers uncover more frauds
Association of British Insurers' Website / 18th October 2007
Insurance companies are uncovering and preventing fraudulent insurance claims worth over £1 million every day according to latest research from the ABI (Association of British Insurers).

Insurance companies are uncovering and preventing fraudulent insurance claims worth over £1 million every day according to latest research from the ABI (Association of British Insurers). The ABI’s latest research into general insurance fraud reveals that:

- Insurers are uncovering and preventing fraudulent claims worth £480 million a year, or £1.3 million every day. This is three times the amount detected in 2003.

- One in 11 claims - around one million - are in some way fraudulent. Of these 85% involved exaggerating the value of a genuine loss.

- Nearly a half of all detected fraud was on household insurance. Typical scams exposed include deliberately damaging carpets then claiming the damage was caused accidentally.

Nick Starling, Director of General Insurance and Health at the ABI, said:

“Fraudulent insurance claims cost £1.6 billion, and add £40 a year to the premiums paid by honest customers. But the industry is fighting back. Insurance cheats are more likely to be caught than ever before. And cheats will pay a high price as future insurance and credit will be more expensive and harder to obtain.”

Some of the more unusual fraudulent claims uncovered by insurers include:

- A man claimed for ‘recovery expenses’ following a heart attack he suffered while on holiday in West Africa, which was for the services of a local brothel!

- A woman reported her husband for exaggerating his injuries following a car accident hours after he left her having collected a £385,000 compensation settlement.

- A keen amateur footballer claimed to be unable to work following a back injury. His fraud was exposed when a local newspaper carried his picture after he was named as his local football club player of the year.

- A cash-strapped policyholder pushed his car over a cliff then claimed it had been stolen so he could pay his debts.