Boxing champion ordered to pay AXA £13,000 for ‘fundamentally dishonest’ claim

A boxer has been ordered to pay £13,046 to AXA following evidence he had been “fundamentally dishonest” about a car accident claim.

Conroy Downer was also added to the Insurance Fraud Register, an industry-wide database of known fraudsters.

He was involved in a low-speed collision in Luton in June 2016 which he claimed injured his neck and back.

But further investigation by AXA and UK headquartered law firm, DAC Beachcroft found that the boxer had not visited his doctor despite his injuries.

Instead the three-time Home Counties champion posted photos on Facebook of his workouts.

Held responsible

The damage to his Mitsubishi Warrior proved “inconsistent” with his injuries and a last-minute attempt by the boxer to vacate the hearing was rejected by the judge at Northampton County Court.

Counter fraud manager at AXA UK, Tom Wilson, said: “We believe that fraudsters should be held responsible for their actions.

But he said the “real victims” of insurance fraud of this type are honest policy holders, “We hope that the court continues to take a strong stance against fraudsters in these cases.”

Head of counter fraud at DAC Beachcroft, Catherine Burt said: “The outcome demonstrates the significant consequences of pursuing a fraudulent claim.”

Burt pointed out the misconception of insurers as “easy targets” for claims.

The ABI published its latest fraud figures last week stating that a new fraud is detected every minute in the UK, with a total of 562,000 detected by insurers themselves. Within this 113,00 were fraudulent valued at £1.3bn, but 449,000 were dishonest insurance applications.

Is telematics the ‘key weapon’ for car insurance fraud detection?

Mike Swanborough, chief executive at Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Europe (AND-E) believes that telematics data could be the “key weapon” in fraud detection.

He said: “As criminals become more creative, the industry is leveraging increasingly sophisticated techniques to stop fraudsters in their tracks – including telematics data.

He explained that telematics could provide the “final piece of the jigsaw” in understanding the “true makeup” of a collision.

Insurtechs like Insurethebox have already latched on to the usefulness of telematics. The London based firm recently used it to assess driver’s speed in the run-up to big World Cup matches. It found that speeding doubled for young drivers prior to big games. It uses positive driving behavior to influence premiums.