Insurers expose over 2,300 fraudulent claims every week

Last year over 2,000 dishonest insurance claims worth more than £16 million were detected every week.

ABI figures show that in 2009:

• 122,000 fraudulent insurance claims were uncovered, up 14% on 2008. The value of these claims, at £840 million, rose by 14% on the previous year.
• The most common frauds involved home insurance, with 62,000 bogus or exaggerated claims detected.
• 4% of all claims by cost were fraudulent. This is similar to 2008, although double the figure of five years ago.

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.”

Commenting on the ABI's research into detection of fraudulent insurance claims, manager of financial Crime prevention for Lloyds Banking Group, Dave Berry said: "We are not surprised by the ABI's findings, as we know that during times of financial hardship and recession more people may be tempted to commit insurance fraud.

“Our message to anyone considering making a fraudulent claim is that it really isn't worth the risk. We have specialist teams trained to identify and investigate potentially fraudulent claims, so the likelihood of being detected is high.

“Anyone found guilty of committing insurance fraud will have their claim invalidated, and is unlikely to find any company willing to insure them in the future. They may also get a criminal record."