Insurers detected 9% more fraudulent claims last year than in 2009, the ABI has revealed.
Figures published this morning show that insurers uncovered a total of 133,000 bogus claims in 2010- 2,500 per week.
The value of the fraudulent claims totalled £919 million, also up 9% on the previous year, according to the ABI statistics. Savings from detected frauds represented 5% of all claims, compared to 4% on 2009
Over the last five years both the number and overall value of insurance frauds detected have risen by over 100%, the ABI said.
The most common frauds involved home insurance with 66,000 bogus or exaggerated claims detected, followed by dishonest motor insurance frauds with 40,000 frauds uncovered. Motor frauds were the most costly, totalling £466 million.
Cheats uncovered by insurers include a claim for back injuries apparently sustained from a fall while working in a nightclub, which was rejected when Facebook images showed the claimant performing gymnastics, and training for a charity run.
Another was a claim by a woman for facial injuries, which she said resulted from a falling toilet roll holder in a fast food outlet. It was rejected when it was shown that the holder would have had to have fallen upwards to cause the injury claimed.
The ABI estimates that insurance fraud costs £2billion a year, adding, on average, an extra £44 a year to the insurance bill for every UK policyholder.
ABI Director of General Insurance and Health Nick Starling said: “Insurers are working harder than ever to protect honest customers against fraud. The savings made by weeding out fraudulent claims would otherwise end up being paid for by honest policyholders through higher premiums.
“Fraudsters continually look for new ways to con insurers, so we are upping our game. Early next year we will be setting up a national Insurance Fraud Register, which will contain details of all known insurance cheats. And at the same time the first ever national police insurance fraud investigation unit will begin its operations, making it harder than ever to commit insurance fraud.”
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