“We want to see [insurance] fraudsters face the full force of the law”

The Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO) wants to see convictions and prison sentences for fraudsters, with ACSO executive director Matthew Maxwell Scott calling these consequences “the best deterrent” to criminal insurance fraud.  

The comment comes following the release of scam statistics by the Association of British Insurers (ABI). According to the ABI, a total of 72,600 fraudulent insurance claims were detected in 2022 – a 19% decline from the corresponding sum in 2021.

“It’s good news that fraud has fallen, primarily as a result of the notable decrease in the number of personal injury claims following the government’s whiplash reforms,” Maxwell Scott said in response. “The concern remains, however, that in seeking to reduce fraudulent whiplash claims, ministers have also made it very much harder for genuine claimants to gain redress.”

In Maxwell Scott’s view, to move the needle further, increased effort is needed in the areas of actual convictions and cooperation.

“We want to see fraudsters face the full force of the law, with convictions and prison sentences for scammers, ghost brokers, and cash-for-crash criminals the best deterrent to this form of crime,” he said in a statement sent to Insurance Business.

“But there also remains far too little cross-industry cooperation, despite everyone sharing the same ultimate goal. It’s partly because, despite technology advances in data analytics, too many players view fraud knowledge as a source of competitive advantage. This means conference-platform rhetoric about working together remains just that.”

The executive director added: “ACSO members already play a full part in identifying, preventing, and deterring fraud but would like to do more. We still want to see the Insurance Fraud Taskforce reconvene to take this issue forward. Its last report on this was over five years ago, during which time the criminals have moved on. The industry now needs to do the same.”

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