Insurance fraud is a global and costly issue. Insurance fraud happens when any act is committed with the intent to fraudulently obtain some benefit or advantage. Every year, insurance fraud costs policyholders and citizens billions of dollars.
The chief motivator for insurance fraud is profit, so it’s not surprising that common insurance fraud areas include life insurance fraud, health insurance fraud, automobile fraud (staged collisions or exaggerated claims), or property insurance fraud. Although the majority of property insurance crimes involve arson, many individuals are now also trying to “fake” the theft of expensive items such as laptops, tablets and smartphones. With the high value of these devices, it is likely we’ll see this trend continue.
The British Transport Police have fined 16 people in London for wasting police time after maliciously reporting the theft of a mobile device that they either still had, had lost or had sold privately. Many others have been prosecuted for fraud.
“While the vast majority of people who report stolen phones and tablets to the police do so in good faith, a small proportion do so dishonestly in a deliberate attempt to make money by selling these gadgets and then claiming further cash via fraudulent insurance claims,” notes Detective Constable Martin Wilson.
In these cases, some of the suspects are attempting to double their profits with fraudulent insurance claims as well as legitimate device sales.
Police advise consumers to be sure a crime has been committed before reporting a device stolen. If you do find your device (that had perhaps only been lost), be sure to notify police immediately that the property has been recovered.
