Attempted insurance fraud up 37%

by Gill Montia

Story link: Attempted insurance fraud up 37%

Attempted insurance fraud increased by 37% in the first quarter of 2012, compared with the previous three month period, to reach its highest level since late 2009.

According to Experian, 13 in every 10,000 applications and claims were detected as being fraudulent, up from 10 in Q4 2011.

Fifty eight per cent of insurance fraud involved some form of product abuse, most significantly the provision of false payment information.

For the UK financial services sector overall, the credit rating firm recorded a 16% quarter-on-quarter jump in detect fraud in Q1 2012, driven primarily by a surge in current account fraud.

Nineteen in every 10,000 applications for financial services were found to be fraudulent but for current account fraud, the ratio leapt 23% to 44 in every 10,000 applications.

Other key findings from Experian for Q1 2012 are as follows:

Loans: The number of fraudulent loan applications continued to decrease; four in every 10,000 applications were discovered to be fraudulent in Q1 2012, 38% lower than the previous quarter.

Mortgages: Attempted mortgage fraud fell by 5% quarter-on-quarter, with 35 in every 10,000 applications uncovered as fraudulent during the first three months of 2012.

Savings accounts: Savings account fraud rates were 18% lower in the first quarter of this year than in the preceding three months.