IFB launches landmark consultation
The Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) has taken a landmark step towards extending its services to defendant lawyers, investigators and other industry suppliers, by launching a consultation on ‘affiliate membership’.
The consultation, launched today, invites suppliers assisting insurers in the fight against fraud to register their interest in IFB membership by 30 November 2015. Focused primarily on detecting and disrupting organised motor fraud, the IFB issue over 2,500 fraud alerts to its members every year. Extending IFB services to defendant lawyers, investigators, loss adjustors and third-party handling agents is expected to further tighten the grip on organised criminal gangs targeting the insurance industry.
Consultation will establish market appetite for IFB membership and shape the development of the pricing model. A new affiliate membership model could then be launched in late 2016.
Ben Fletcher, director of IFB said, ‘Intelligence sharing is the key to catching insurance cheats. Through the IFB, the insurance industry has established a hub for sharing organised fraud intelligence and we have seen the results in terms of claim repudiations, fines and jail sentences. By extending IFB data sharing to suppliers helping our industry to fight fraud, we close the net on criminals abusing the system, whilst making the landscape more efficient and compliant.’
Earlier this year, a pilot project with a sample of affiliate firms proved the added value of sharing suspect fraud data, with a richer intelligence picture identifying additional exposure and key targets for investigations.
