One insurance scam detected every minute, industry says

One insurance fraud is detected every minute in the UK, according to industry figures.

A total of 562,000 insurance frauds was uncovered in 2017, from people lying on their applications to get cheaper cover to dishonest claims, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said.

Of these 113,000 were dishonest claims, valued at £1.3bn. While the number of dishonest claims fell 8% the value rose 1%, the ABI said.

The number of organised frauds, such as staged "crash for cash" motor accidents fell 22% on 2016, with fraud worth £158m uncovered.

Fraudulent motor insurance claims rose 4% to $775m.

James Dalton, ABI's director for general insurance policy, said: "The vast majority of insurance customers are honest, and they rightly resent fraudsters pushing up their insurance costs.

"This is why the industry makes no apology for spending around £250m a year on measures to tackle insurance fraud.

"It is good that organised fraud fell, especially as scams like staged accidents can often put lives at risk and involve huge amounts of money.

"But, with the Insurance Fraud Bureau currently investigating a rising number of suspected insurance frauds, there will be no let-up in the crackdown on the insurance cheats.

"The rise in opportunistic motor fraud highlights that the stricter regulation of claims management companies, some of whom encourage dishonest claims, cannot come in soon enough."

Some of the insurance scams uncovered included:

:: A cyclist claimed £135,000 compensation from a council for injuries he said he sustained when he fell off his cycle after hitting a pothole. However, evidence showed that the accident happened when he fell off on a slippery road at another location. He was jailed for three-and-a-half years.

:: A bodybuilder, who claimed £150,000 for a back injury, was exposed when he was filmed doing a press-up challenge. He was ordered to pay £35,000 in legal costs.

:: The ringleader of a gang who staged a bus crash to try to get £500,000 in insurance pay-outs for fake injuries was jailed and banned from driving for two years. Using a rental car, he staged the crash, following which eight of his fellow fraudsters on the bus claimed for fake injuries to necks and hips.

:: A student was convicted after attempting to claim £14,000 through six invented claims following a trip to Venice, including the alleged loss of an iPod, laptop and designer watch.

:: A four and half year police investigation into a huge crash for cash staged accident operation in South Wales, which netted the ringleaders £2 million, led to the convictions of 150 people.

:: A man was jailed for three years and eight months for selling fake motor insurance policies to unsuspecting motorists.

:: After staging a road collision, two fraudsters appeared uninjured until the ambulance arrived, when they then started feigning injury. Each received a jail sentence.