Bogus insurance applications jump by 40% – Experian

The number of fraudulent insurance applications rose by 40% between 2012 and 2013, according to Experian’s latest Fraud Index.

In 2013, 17 applications in every 10,000 were detected as fraudulent, compared with 12 in every 10,000 in 2012.

And when compared with detected frauds in other types of financial products, insurance fraud was the second biggest riser after credit card.

The number of detected fraudulent applications for credit cards leaped 69.32% to 25 in every 10,000 from 15 in every 10,000. Fraudulent applications for current accounts fell by 20.42% in the same period to 29 in every 10,000 from 36, while mortgages fell by 21.38% to 30 from 38 in every 10,000.

For an exclusive breakdown of the insurance fraud statistics click here.

Experian UK and Ireland director of identity and fraud Nick Mothershaw said: “The financial services industry continues to make headway in the fight against fraud, with the amount of fraudulent cases being detected and prevented on the rise and in some sectors of the industry, such as insurance, at an all-time high.

“Providers can invest further in the latest fraud prevention systems to protect against individuals misrepresenting their personal information.

“People should be wary of their personal credit information, taking every practicable step to avoid becoming a victim to identity theft.”