Cold callers encouraging false claims
One of the UK’s largest accident claims companies is encouraging customers to exaggerate injuries for profit, an undercover investigation by the Sunday Times has revealed.
Staff at Complete Claim Solutions (CCS), which makes more than 7m cold calls a year, encourage motorists to make false personal injury claims by offering potential pay-outs of up to £5,000.
Tom Murray, a senior salesman, told an undercover reporter: ‘They’re breaking the law by signing a document. But if they want that £2,000, they’ll lie. The lie is the buyer’s. And that’s the business what [sic] we’re in.’
The firm, which has offices in Brighton, Croydon, Leicester and Crawley, also by-passes a ban on referral fees paid by legal firms to claims management companies by exploiting a loophole in the law. It is also in potential breach of data protection laws by phoning people who have requested not to be cold called.
Earlier this year the government vowed to crackdown on cold callers following tens of thousands of complaints made to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) last year about nuisance calls and text messages.
The ICO can take action against companies who flout rules on direct marketing, and says it has issued penalties totalling £815,000 to nine firms since January 2012.
