FRAUDLINE
Cooked-up stories
One in five of all
insurance claims in the
UK are a complete turkey
– shamelessly fake and
fraudulent. Why should
you, and Ealing Council,
pick up the bill for these
scams this Christmas?
T
he council sometimes finds
itself on the end of such
claims: Either completely
fabricated, or exaggerated, by
people looking to make some money.
And, even if an insurance claim is turned
down, your council tax is still helping
to pay for a case to be investigated
and defended in court. A recent case
cost the council £100,000 to disprove a
bogus claim about a faked fall.
Councillor Yvonne Johnson, cabinet
member for finance, performance and
customer services, said: “Every year,
this fraud results in millions of pounds
being wasted across the country.
These criminal attempts to steal from
the public purse are not victimless
crimes because you, the taxpayer, are
always left to pick up the bill – and,
consequently, funding for our local
services suffers.
“Every pound we save by preventing
this type of fraud could be spent on local
services instead. In these tough economic
times, it is especially important.”
HELP US STOP THEM
By calling FraudLine, you can help
us stop these crimes against our
community. If you think you have some
information about a fraudulent insurance
claim you can call 0800 328 9270 – a
special 24-hour hotline. It is free and
confidential, and is manned by people
with the expertise to help.
The council, and FraudLine, has
the support of the governmentfunded Insurance Fraud Enforcement
Department, led by City of London Police.
TYPES OF FRAUD
There are common types of
insurance fraud. These include
making exaggerated claims by
pretending an accident was
far worse than it really was;
untrue personal injury claims
that describe a false set of
circumstances, time or place
of an accident; completely
bogus claims that use invented
symptoms or an incident that
never occurred; and multiple
claims where the fraudster
knowingly makes claims for
the same injury in a number of
different local authority areas.
FRAUDLINE
Call the 24-hour freephone hotline
0800 328 9270
around ealing
Winter 2015/16
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