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Air bag DNA convicts car insurance fraudster20 Jan 2012by Peter Tait When Mr M, a 41 year old teacher from Worcestershire, crashed his car after a night out drinking he decided to report his car as stolen.  However, his car insurance provider, Hastings
Direct, found no evidence of theft-related damage to the car although
there was extensive accident damage. Their team of former police
officers was called in to investigate for possible fraud.The case was referred to Worcestershire police who found DNA on the air bag which was identified as Mr M's and it was this evidence that led to his six month conviction. The crashed car was an ageing Volvo, not even of any great value, worth only £1,500. Head of counter fraud at Hastings Direct, Paul Priestley,said: “There is a perception that insurance fraud does not hurt anyone, but in fact it hurts everyone financially." Indeed, it is estimated by the ABI that car insurance fraud adds around £44 to every policy. Phil Bird, interim director of the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) said, “Insurance is there to protect people for real events. The industry is closing the net on all types of insurance fraud, including cases like this where the attempt is opportunistic in nature. This conviction sends a clear message to anyone attempting to mislead their insurer." As this case shows, insurers are increasingly willing to investigate suspected fraud even for low value claims. No have-a-go fraudster should assume that he will get away with mis-representing the circumstances of an accident, while he could end up with much more severe consequences than simply refusal of a claim. A dishonesty-related conviction is likely to lead to loss of a job and difficulties in securing future employment while getting insurance cover in the future will also be difficult and costly. Certainly, the insurance industry is commiting increasingly more resources to the fight against insurance fraud and this fight has included the recent setting up of a dedicated London-based insurance fraud unit, entirely funded by the insurance industry. In one of our recent insurance industry reports, we have called for the rolling out of numerous other insurance fraud units throughout the country based on the London unit's model, funded by a £1 levvy on every insurance policy, a funding model used by the United States and which has been advocated by senior police officers in this country. (See the relevant section of the report: Reducing car insurance fraud for more on this). |
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