Tip-offs lead to surge of insurance fraud probes

THERE has been a surge in the number of cases of possible insurance fraud following tip-offs to the country’s main insurance fraud hotline.

The statistics from the Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) show an 18.5% increase in the number of cases investigated following tip-offs made via the phone line or the www.insuranceconfidential.ie website.

In all, there were 813 cases investigated regarding potentially bogus claims, up from 686 in 2009 and 308 cases in 2008.

The insurance industry estimates that fraudulent claims cost around €100m every year. The figures show that as with previous years, the main area in which claims are investigated involve motor injury.

In all, 347 cases were investigated under this heading last year — 42.6% of all cases. By contrast, there were just two cases in the whole country regarding personal accident insurance, and two cases involving travel insurance claims.

In the related area of motor damage, where claims were made regarding a vehicle, there were 98 cases investigated last year — more than 12% of all cases probed. There were another 43 cases where claims linked to motor insurance — but not motor damage or motor injury — were investigated as potentially fraudulent.

Outside of cases linked to motoring, the next highest category in which claims were investigated was household insurance, with a total of 104 cases probed. There were also 68 property (non-household) insurance claims investigated, as well as 80 cases involving public liability and 51 involving employers liability.

The remaining cases involved other forms of insurance such as life insurance, or were unidentified.

The figures also show that most of the potentially false claims come from Leinster (not including Dublin) and Munster.

Of the 813 cases investigated, 236 originated in Leinster and 212 in Munster, followed by 183 cases in Dublin. Smaller numbers of cases originated in Connaught and Ulster.

A spokesman for the IIF said: “The figures relate to cases investigated by Insurance Confidential. There are many more calls and emails that do not progress to investigation stage due to a lack of information.”

It is understood just as the number of cases being investigated rose last year, so did the overall number of contacts. The IIF spokesperson said provisional figures for the first part of this year indicated similar levels of calls and emails as last year.

In response to concerns over the number of false insurance claims, and the associated rise in premiums to customers, the insurance industry last year launched the insurance confidential website to bolster the phone service aimed at encouraging people to report suspect claims.