Gardaí crack down on insurance fraud

GARDAÍ are pursuing more than 100 cases of suspected insurance fraud which could see fines totalling €10 million imposed by the courts.

Those convicted of fraud also face up to 10 years in jail, under the Government's latest crackdown.

The Irish Insurance Federation says more than 2,000 cases of suspected fraud have been reported to the industry's telephone hotline since its establishment two years ago.

"The high response rate to date, which has far exceeded IIF's expectations, clearly indicates that the public are fed up with insurance fraudsters," Michael Kemp, the federation's chief executive, said yesterday.

Launching a new anti-fraud campaign, Mr Kemp added: "Insurers are no longer a soft touch when it comes to false and exaggerated claims. Apart from beefing up their claims and special investigation departments, insurers are also actively referring cases of suspected fraud to the gardaí for criminal investigation."

In the past year, the insurance industry has begun to employ experts in crime detection, in many cases former gardaí, to detect fraudulent claims.

The industry is also making greater use of private investigators for surveillance.

More than 100 cases of suspected insurance fraud are under investigation by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigations. Despite this, however, there have been few convictions.

"Over the past two years, six people have been convicted of serious criminal offences arising out of insurance fraud," Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy said.

More than half the cases of suspected fraud involved people in Leinster while Munster accounted for 22%. More than half of all suspected fraudulent claims concerned motorists exaggerating personal injuries arising out of car accidents. There were 1,111 compensation claims in this category.

Employers liability accounted for 10% of claims, a figure roughly equal to that involving claims for public liability.

The federation also revealed details of some of the most audacious false claims, most of them involving car accidents.

In one case, a woman stated that she had crashed her car while driving home from a Christmas party. However, it emerged that she was not even in the car and that it had been, in fact, driven by her son.