Aviva received 12,700 fraudulent claims and prevented 98,000 fraudulent policy applications in 2024, according to the insurance firm.
This marked a 14% increase over the year, after over a third (39%) more bogus claims happened during 2023.
There was a surge of 24% in the number of drivers making inflated claims for car hire and repairs too. Indeed, since 2021, incidents of claims for motor damage and credit hire fraud have risen by 275%.
This is a shift from the previous ‘cash for crash’ scams the insurer faced, where drivers would deliberately cause a collision to make a claim. The Government launched a crackdown in 2024 after fake claims across the industry amounted to £1.1bn.
A factor for the increase was connected to ‘spoof ads’ from ‘unscrupulous’ claims management companies (CMCs), Aviva noted.
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Aviva warned drivers to be careful of those ads, as they often appear on search engines and websites when searching for insurers’ contact details following a crash.
Those ads can lead to customers believing they are communicating with an insurer, while their attempt to make a claim is not followed through, potentially losing thousands of pounds in the process.
Motor claims represented three-quarters of all fraud incidents Aviva detected.
Elsewhere, household fraud also made up a tenth of fraudulent claims the insurer received, which was attributed to ‘opportunistic’ customers who wished to make more cash by inflating the prices of their damaged or lost mobile phone, TV or jewellery.
Laptops and watches were the other popular items that customers would inflate the price of to make more money from a claim.
‘Overwhelming majority of customers are honest’
Pete Ward, head of claims counter fraud at Aviva, said: “The overwhelming majority of our customers are honest, and we are committed to settling their claims quickly. But where we detect insurance fraud, we have a responsibility to protect our customers from its harmful effects and additional costs.
“So it is encouraging to see a continued improvement in our fraud detection figures. Our ongoing investment in advanced analytics, machine learning models and continuous training for our people has significantly improved our fraud detection rates.”
Ward added: “We expect this trend to continue against a backdrop of ongoing economic hardship, which we know is a contributing factor to committing insurance fraud.
“We were also the first insurer to successfully work with IFED to use both the Serious Crime Prevention Order and Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure convicted fraudsters face imposing consequences if they reoffend. We will continue to stay ahead of the evolving threat of fraud and help to protect our customers from the greedy and illegal acts of fraudsters.”
