Ecclesiastical cracks down on fraudsters

The specialist insurer saw a 37% increase in the value of fraudulent property claims and a 17% increase in fraudulent casualty claims in the last year.

Ecclesiastical Insurance’s claims team detected over 230 cases of suspected fraudulent activity during 2024, including claims submitted for trips and falls that were proven false following investigation.

As part of Ecclesiastical’s continued investment in tackling fraud, the specialist insurer has brought in James Ward as a counter-fraud specialist. James joins the business having previously worked for Hastings Direct and InsurTech INSHUR as a fraud claims manager.

Examples of fraudulent claims successfully defended include:

• Falsified invoices inflating the value of claims, including adding VAT to receive a 20% increase in value
• A customer alleged they had dropped their glasses and smashed them but the optician confirmed it was a routine change of prescription and there was no damage to the original pair
• Claims handlers used Google Streetview to identify pre-existing damage later presented as a new claim
• One individual claimed they fell over chains that were used to cordon off an area but CCTV revealed they attempted to jump over the chains and fell over
• Another falsely claimed they had tripped over an unsecured rug in a church which was proven to be secured upon investigation with the claim withdrawn

Other claims, including some for high-value items, were rejected when no evidence was provided to support them, and the claimants subsequently withdrew once challenged.

The most common type of claim detected by Ecclesiastical’s claims team related to the exaggeration of the claim, where falsified documents were submitted to increase the value of otherwise genuine claims. The second most common was instances of fabrication, where claims were submitted for incidents that either hadn’t happened or were claimed to have been linked to an incident – for example, storms – even though the damage was pre-existing.

Through in-depth investigation and, where necessary legal proceedings, the specialist insurer’s claims team was able to save the company almost £2.6million in property claims - an increase in fraudulent claims of over a third (37%) on 2023 – and almost £1.7million in casualty claims – almost 17% more than in 2023.

Fraudulent claims are estimated to cost the insurance industry billions each year, with the ABI placing the figure at £1.1billion in 2023. In 2020 Ecclesiastical joined the ABI-funded Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) to collaborate with other insurers in the UK to help tackle the threat of fraud.

Jeremy Trott, Claims Director at Ecclesiastical Insurance, said: “Insurance fraud is a crime that continues to cost insurance companies, and ultimately customers, billions of pounds each year. Our teams have been working hard to tackle this activity and to help keep our premiums low.

“With the UK continuing to experience economic volatility, businesses, and households are already faced with difficult financial pressures but by investing time, money, and effort into pursuing false claims and dealing with them in the strongest means possible we can help to deter would be fraudsters and help protect our customers.

“We are really excited to welcome James on board. His knowledge of the fraud landscape and the technologies available to improve our fraud detection capabilities will be invaluable as we further enhance our counter-fraud strategy.