The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said more than 130,000 fraudulent claims were detected during 2015, marking a 6% increase on 2014.
The number of fraudulent insurance claims increased to 2,500 a week last year. The frauds were valued at £1.3bn, a decrease of 3% on 2014.
ABI general insurance policy director James Dalton said: “Insurance cheats do not lack nerve or ingenuity, which is why there will be no let-up in the industry’s commitment to protect honest customers.
“The chances of getting caught have never been greater, and the consequences, such as a prison sentence and difficulty in getting future insurance and other financial products, have never been more severe and long-lasting.”
Dishonest motor claims are leading as the most common crime in the insurance industry accounting for more than half the total of frauds.
As many as 70,000 dishonest motor claims were detected by the industry valued at £800m. The number of fraudulent cases in this area has come down though by 2% to what it was in 2014.
However, not far too behind it was the dishonest liability insurance claims such as the “slip and trip” injury claims valued at £391m, which is fast catching up with an increase by 36%.
The value of property frauds in 2015 has been recorded as £107m, which is down 2% to what it was in 2014. The number of frauds in this segment was 27,500, which is an increase by 7% leaving opportunistic property fraud as an ongoing threat to the insurance industry.
Dalton also said: “The scale of frauds uncovered shows that the industry’s £200 million a year investment in tackling fraud is paying dividends, as is the collaboration with the Insurance Fraud Bureau and the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department.”
Image: Association of British Insurers released data for the UK reveals that 130,000 fraudulent claims were recorded in 2015. Photo: courtesy of Stuart Miles and Freedigitalphotos.net.