Vehicle repair and credit hire fraud up 275%
Aviva has reported that detected motor damage and credit hire fraud has grown by 275% since 2021.
The insurer reported a 14% increase in all fraudulent claims uncovered last year, with motor claims making up the vast majority of them.
It discovered 12,700 suspect claims worth £127m last year, with a further 14,600 still under investigation.
Motor claims accounted for three quarters of all these claims, with fraudsters moving away from deliberate personal injury scams such as crash for cash in favour of exaggerated claims for injury.
Fraudsters are also increasingly looking to exaggerate and inflate the cost of repair and credit hire claims. Dishonest claims for motor damage rose 24% last year, and since 2021 motor damage and credit hire fraud has grown by a 275%.
This is being driven by a rise in spoof ads, with some unscrupulous accident management companies contacting the driver following a collision, pretending to be an insurer and then tying the driver into paid services that would normally be covered by an insurance policy.
Premiums
Pete Ward, head of claims counter fraud at Aviva, said: “The overwhelming majority of our customers are honest, and we are committed to settling their claims quickly. But where we detect insurance fraud, we have a responsibility to protect our customers from its harmful effects and additional costs.
“So it is encouraging to see a continued improvement in our fraud detection figures. Our ongoing investment in advanced analytics, machine learning models and continuous training for our people has significantly improved our fraud detection rates. We expect this trend to continue against a backdrop of ongoing economic hardship, which we know is a contributing factor to committing insurance fraud.
“We were also the first insurer to successfully work with IFED to use both the Serious Crime Prevention Order and Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure convicted fraudsters face imposing consequences if they reoffend. We will continue to stay ahead of the evolving threat of fraud and help to protect our customers from the greedy and illegal acts of fraudsters.”
