Fraudsters receive stark warning

New figures released by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) reveal that, contrary to popular perception, whiplash injury claim fraud is not the most common type of insurance fraud in Britain today.

The figures show that of the 2,500 confirmed cases of insurance fraud received by insurers each week, the majority involve homeowners looking to claim on their home insurance policies.

The next most common type of fraudulent claim is for car accident compensation, with a proportion of these for whiplash injury.

Nick Starling, the ABI's director of general insurance commented, "Fraudsters continually look for new ways to con insurers, so we are upping our game. Early next year, we will be setting up a national insurance fraud register, which will contain details of all known insurance cheats. And at the same time the first ever national police insurance fraud investigation unit will begin its operations, making it harder than ever to commit insurance fraud."

While Glen Marr, director of the Insurance Fraud Bureau had a stark message for anyone looking to make a fraudulent claim, whether for whiplash injury or theft of an object from the home. "At the IFB, we have access to a significant volume of industry data, use sophisticated and powerful analytical software, work in partnership with insurers, law enforcement and regulators, and have no shortage of reports being received from consumers of their knowledge or suspicions of those concerned with defrauding the industry, through our Cheatline facility," he said.