Aviva detects GBP110 million of insurance fraud

Insurer Aviva has detected over GBP110 million worth of insurance fraud in 2013 – a 19 percent increase compared with 2012.

Tom Gardiner, head of Fraud at Aviva, says “Our priority is to pay genuine claims quickly and fairly while offering a great service to our customers. Last year in the UK, for example, Aviva settled over 910,000 claims worth £2.65 billion. We identified fraud on less than 1.9% of claims we received.”

However, a combination of factors including the economic climate, social attitudes toward insurance fraud as a ‘victimless crime’, and a lack of effective deterrents are increasing the frequency of insurance fraud, he added.

The most common type of fraud in the UK, according to Aviva, is motor injury fraud, which represents 54 percent of Aviva’s total detected claims fraud costs. Over 50 percent of these are from organised so-called “cash for crash” claims.  

Organised fraud is often linked to wider gang-related crime – and puts innocent motorists at risk, diverts scarce emergency service resources away from real need, and has a significant impact on premiums and the public purse.

Gardiner continued, “We are witnessing a trend toward third party, injury and organised fraud. For example, in 2013, we identified fraud in one in nine third party injury claims.”