Exaggerated claims

Two thirds of the British population would falsely inflate an insurance claim if they believed they could get away with it is the implication of recent research commissioned by Royal & SunAlliance. The UK general insurer estimates that fraud costs the company UK£50 million a year; the Association of British Insurers put the total cost of fraudulent claims in the UK at UK£650 million per annum in its November/December 1999 newsletter. In an effort to counter the problem, R & SA has expanded its team of dedicated field-based investigators to six household claims centres nationwide after the success of a pilot project in Peterborough and Ipswich. The summary results of its survey make interesting reading: