Concern at surge in bogus insurance claims
Figures provided by the Insurance Industry Federation (IIF) show that its Insurance Confidential Hotline received information on 686 new cases in 2009, compared with 308 cases in 2008.
The IIF said this upward trend has continued in the first quarter of 2010 and that the figures reflect only the number of cases being investigated, with the number of calls to the hotline a multiple of the case numbers.
As for the new cases reported to the end of March this year, 165 cases have already been uncovered, a figure higher than that for the corresponding period last year.
Of the new cases, 42% relate to motor injury, with a further 17% linked to motor damage.
Property claims account for 25.5% of the new cases, with employers’ liability and public liability accounting for another 14.5%.
The remaining 1% of cases are related to other claims, such as life and travel insurance.
An IIF spokesperson also revealed how the industry’s use of advertising throughout the past two years was as a result of fears of a surge in bogus claims.
“The IIF continued with an anti-fraud advertising effort in 2009 as insurers were aware of the likelihood of an increase in fraudulent and exaggerated claims as the recession took hold,” she said.
“The advertising is used to deter people from engaging in fraudulent activities, as well as highlighting the IIF’s confidential hotline.”
One case investigated by the IIF last year involved a staged burglary, where two separate claims were made for burglaries in the same geographic area and which amounted to €103,000.
The claims were similar and on further investigation both claimants were found to have been good friends who together had staged their own burglaries. One of the cases was successfully prosecuted and the claimant was made pay €12,000 to the court, which was distributed between charities in the local area. The second case is ongoing.
In another case a husband and wife made a false report regarding a traffic accident, falsely pretending the husband was driving a car that was involved in an accident resulting in damage to the car and injuries to his wife, who had actually been behind the wheel.
