Claims handler convicted of fraud
A motor insurance claim handler has been handed a custodial sentence after admitting to illegally passing on customer details to a law firm and adding friends and family to genuine claims in a £55k fraud.
Anthony Francis Joseph Rattigan has been sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment after an investigation by the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED), part of the City of London Police.
The fraud was initially uncovered by internal fraud investigators at RSA where he was employed as a claim handler. It was found he falsely added friends and family members as injured passengers onto genuine claims he was handling so that they would receive payouts.
Eight such claims were identified, with insurance payouts of over £29,000 in costs and compensation to the false claimants and solicitors.
He also referred these claims and 37 others to a law firm that paid him referral payments totalling around £25,500 between January 2012 and June 2014.
Detective sergeant Matthew Hussey, from IFED, said, ‘Rattigan used his knowledge of the claims process and his position as a claim handler to submit the fraudulent claims so that he and his friends and family could profit – all at the insurer’s expense.
‘He knew it was wrong to make referrals to the law firm, and he hid his occupation from them in order to go undetected, but thanks to the processes in place across RSA, his fraudulent activity was spotted. The case was then passed to us for criminal investigation and he is now facing the prospect of several months behind bars.
‘It’s a very small minority that work within the insurance industry and look to commit fraud like this. Wherever we find evidence of this happening, we will work with the insurer and take the strongest possible action against those individuals.’
