With possible savings of thousands of pounds in car insurance costs, residents of ‘pricier’ cities have apparently turned to locations such as Cornwall for cheaper cover.
A report by Cornwall Live said a man living in Manchester used a Cornwall address to take advantage of less expensive insurance – by about £2,000 – for those with a TR1 postcode.
“I was told that Manchester, Birmingham, and the larger cities are hotspots for this sort of thing. Apparently it is quite common that people from these cities will use postcodes from Cornwall to get cheaper insurance,” said Georgie Carter, as quoted by the report.
Carter’s address was used for the policy, and she had been receiving letters addressed to the Manchester resident. The victim found out about the scam when the man was caught using her address and the police got involved.
It turns out she’s not the only one from her area who has fallen prey to insurance fraudsters. “It’s been going on for about a year now; most of the letters I receive are from the same man trying to take out an insurance policy at my address in his name,” a certain Karen Moore was quoted as saying.
Citing the low insurance premiums for TR1, Moore claimed the fraudulent act is actually affecting several others. “They’re targeting this postcode. It is worrying,” she said.
In another fraud case, a victim was sent a total of 121 letters for car insurance policies he had not taken out. Each letter was for a different person, and a probe was launched into the address that had been “compromised”.
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