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Offline and online car insurance firms targeted by fraudsters
The Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) has revealed that over 1,000 groups of UK motor insurance fraudsters are taking advantage of offline and online car insurance companies alike.
They believe that gangs of motor insurance cheats are intentionally causing crashes all over Britain by pulling out and braking hard in front of innocent drivers. The "victims" then make expensive claims against the car insurance company of the person who they forced to crash into them.
A common tactic that the fraudsters use is to claim that there were multiple passengers injured in the accident, which means that motor insurance payout may be multiplied by five or more. Fake claimants usually ask for thousands of pounds in personal injury compensation, as well as a large sum for lost earnings and other losses.
The IFB is a body that was set up in 2006 to combat exactly this type of car insurance fraud and it has been active in researching the gangs involved in this crime.
Richard Davies, of the IFB, said: "We found there could be as many as 1,000 different accident rings.
"And this could grow to about 2,500 in five years if nothing is done," he warned.
There have been a number of operations to crack these groups and the police have recently arrested people in London, Birmingham, Hatfield and Watford in connection with accident fraud.
Corrine Aldous, spokesperson for online car insurance company duck2water Car Insurance Services said: "It is awful that people deliberately cause car accidents - their actions could seriously injure innocent motorists as well as themselves.
"Let's hope that police and the IFB manage to catch all of those responsible."
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