Steve Jackson talks about the dangers of inflating insurance claims

This week nine people across England and Wales were arrested by City of London police investigating £450,000 worth of allegedly fraudulent household insurance claims.
One of the arrests was a Covéa Insurance customer who had asked a repair supplier to bump-up the cost of their claim in order to cover their £250 excess.

The crime was detected by one of Covéa Insurance’s vigilant claims handlers who referred the case to the company’s financial crime unit, who in turn worked with the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) of the City of London Police, to investigate and secure an arrest that ended with a Caution.

Speaking about the incident, Steve Jackson head of financial crime at Covéa Insurance commented:

“Many people don’t recognise that inflating or exaggerating a claim is fraud, or indeed a crime; it is. This kind of fraud is insidious in the insurance market, is as damaging as the organised criminal gangs who target insurance companies, and is adding millions of pounds in costs which are inevitably passed on to honest customers.”

“We are huge supporters of the work of IFED and applaud their efforts in bringing these people to justice; however it was only through the diligence of our claims handler, who spotted the issue and the subsequent investigation by our financial crime team that we were able to bring the matter to the attention of IFED. This case demonstrates the huge benefits we derive from having our claims expertise in-house so that our claims and financial crime teams can work hand-in-hand to detect and prevent fraud in all its forms.”

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About Covéa Insurance

Covéa Insurance Plc is the UK underwriting business of leading French mutual insurance group Covéa (which includes the global reinsurer PartnerRe since July 2022). 

Covéa Insurance looks after the insurance needs of UK customers, across a range of product lines; delivering financial reassurance through its Standard & Poor’s ‘AA- stable’ rating, as a guaranteed subsidiary of Covéa.  

Covéa Insurance has a strong people and service ethos and holds ServiceMark accreditation with Distinction for its Personal Lines operation and its Commercial & HNW Claims teams, as well as Chartered Insurer status for its Commercial business. Covéa Insurance is signatory to the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter and the insurance Inclusivity Pledge and has been named one of the top 75 employers in West Yorkshire & the Humber. In 2022 Covéa Insurance was named Insurer of the Year at the British Claims Awards and Personal Lines Insurer of the Year at the Insurance Times Awards.