Fraud on the rise as Aviva reports fake claims up 14% in 2024

Aviva has revealed that it uncovered more than 12,700 fraudulent insurance claims in 2024 worth £127m.

Data published by the insurer today (8 April 2025), showed that the firm tackled 35 bogus claims a day last year, totalling around £349,000.

This represents a 14% rise on the number of fraudulent claims tackled in 2023. Aviva also said it was still investigating a further 14,600 claims for suspected fraud.

Pete Ward, head of claims counter fraud at Aviva, said: “Our ongoing investment in advanced analytics, machine learning models and continuous training for our people has significantly improved our fraud detection rates.

“We expect this trend to continue against a backdrop of ongoing economic hardship, which we know is a contributing factor to committing insurance fraud.”

Motor and home claims

Motor claims fraud made up nearly 75% of detected fraud, up 23% from 2023. 

Part of the reason for this was due to fraudsters increasingly looking to exaggerate and inflate the cost of repair and credit hire claims.

This led to a 24% increase in the number of dishonest claims for motor damage in 2024. Since 2021, motor damage and credit hire fraud has grown by 275%.

Meanwhile, exaggerated or fabricated claims for household items now account for one in 10 fraudulent claims Aviva detects, with claimants looking to falsely inflate their claim.

Commercial fraud

Commercial insurance also saw an increase in fraudulently exaggerated claims costs, with property fraud seeing an 89% increase in 2024. Aviva also saw an increase in the number of exaggerated claims for escape of water.

The insurer also detected an 18% increase in ghost-brokered policies and linked an additional 8,600 cases to open investigations into known ghost broking cases.

Ward said: “The overwhelming majority of our customers are honest and we are committed to settling their claims quickly.

“But where we detect insurance fraud, we have a responsibility to protect our customers from its harmful effects and additional costs.”