Insurance Times Awards 2025: DAC Beachcroft confronts enablers driving post-OIC claims manipulation

1. Why did you put yourselves forward for the Excellence in Fraud Mitigation category?

We are very proud to have built such a novel and effective fraud detection approach – the Fraud Projects Team. The team has made a meaningful impact in the fight against the once rampant levels of professional enabler-driven insurance fraud that erupted following the OIC reforms.

The team fused data science, intelligence analysis and legal strategy to shine a spotlight on what had been an industry-wide blind spot. This helped to tackle and disrupt those behind the surge in layering-based fraud and cost building.

2. What do you think makes your entry stand out and why should you win the award?

When we set out to tackle injury layering, we realised we could not rely solely on traditional tools. This type of fraud was not being spotted, not because people were not looking, but because the detection mechanisms were not built to see it.

By ensuring our strategies were led and reviewed by intelligence and data specialists, we were able to secure more than £2m in fraud savings from claims that had already passed pre-existing fraud triggers. In other words, we found the fraud others could not see and we have shared our intelligence to help change the way the industry looks for risk.

3. What would winning this award mean to you and your firm?

Winning the award would represent recognition and vindication for our decision to adopt new methods. Often, the safe play when it comes to fraud identification is to stay on the well-trodden path, because new approaches involve commercial and reputational risk.

This was especially true when tackling professional enablers, given their deep resources and disposition to attack anyone that threatens their use. A win would also motivate and inspire us to keep pushing boundaries, introduce more innovation and aggressively pursue those propagating such an insidious type of fraud.