The rising cost of insurance premiums due to fraudsters
Most adults in the UK know how frustrating it can be to cope with the rising cost of insurance premiums, and this includes cover such as medical insurance, vehicle insurance, and home insurance. There are a number of factors why some forms of insurance may go up – for instance, medical insurance may cost more if you are a smoker, and vehicle insurance may cost more if you have had a claim in the past three years. However, there are also some factors that are totally out of your control, and this includes insurance fraud.
Insurance fraud is something that costs the insurance companies £1.5 billion every year, and the only way that insurers can recoup the cost of this type of fraud is my raising premiums for customers. So, not only do those committing the fraud end up paying higher premiums for making a claim but those that have never made a claim in their lives may also end up paying higher premiums than they would otherwise need to.
The shocking reality is that nearly ten percent of adult Brits have admitted to committing some form of insurance related fraud, according to a survey carried out by Experian. And just as bad was the fact that only fourteen percent of those responding to the survey said that they would report insurance fraud even though ninety percent were aware that it was wrong and illegal. For many of those that would not report it, the main issue was that the fraud was being carried out against an organization rather than an individual.
One Experian spokesperson stated: "The survey revealed that people are well aware of what constitutes insurance fraud and consider it a fairly serious crime, which is not victimless, but they see it as a crime against an organisation rather than an individual and, as a result, appear less likely to report it."
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