Insurance fiddles cost honest customers millions

Insurance fraud is costing the average customer an "additional five per cent in premiums", according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

The Insurance Fraud Bureau, set up in 2006 to among other things look at the detection and prevention of organised fraud throughout the industry, has also discovered that, by far the largest fraudulent claims, are made on home and contents insurance policies.

Malcolm Tarling, a spokesman for ABI said: "If you look at all types of insurance fraud put together, it costs the insurance industry about £1.1 billion a year.

"A lot of the claims are for the odd £50 here or £100 there but if you add them up they represent a huge loss."

The bureau also report that one in ten people makes a false claim on general insurance policies such as motor, and that 'opportunist' fraud costs the industry in the region of £800 million per annum.

02/10/2007 14:42:17