Aviva reveals changing face of fraud
Aviva uncovered more than 11,000 instances of insurance fraud last year, with motor accounting for about 60% of all fraudulent claims detected.
It found that the proportion of fraud detected on motor injury claims rose by 10.7% last year, although it is expected that the whiplash reforms introduced at the start of this year are expected to reduce fraudulent claims.
However, there are early signs that organised fraudsters are instead focusing their efforts on fraud connected with the repair journey, including credit hire and repair, which grew by 13% in 2021.
It also identified fraud on more than 20,000 motor policy applications, with ghost broking accounting for 15% of all the application fraud detected
Waseem Malik, chief claims officer, Aviva UK General Insurance, said: “Fraud is typically committed for reasons of need or greed, and we believe the increase in claims fraud last year is linked to reduced incomes during Covid lockdowns.
“As more households and businesses come under increased financial stress due to the cost of living crisis, we expect to see more claims fraud. We will be keeping a watchful eye on motor injury fraud this year, to see if it declines as the Whiplash Reforms bed in. Although it’s early days, we are starting to see some signs that organised fraudsters involved in motor injury fraud are moving into the repair side of motor claims, as well as liability frauds such as slips and trips.”
