Episode 9 Claimed and Shamed


Episode 9

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Insurance fraud in the UK has hit epidemic levels.

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It's costing us more than £1.3 billion every year.

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That's almost £3.6 million every day.

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Deliberate crashes, bogus personal injuries, even phantom pets...

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The fraudsters are risking more and more to make a quick killing

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and every year it's adding around £50 to your insurance bill.

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But insurers are fighting back,

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exposing just under 15 fake claims every hour.

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Armed with covert surveillance systems...

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That's the subject out the vehicle.

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..sophisticated data analysis techniques...

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Police!

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..and a number of highly skilled police units...

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Police, don't move, stay where you are!

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-..they're catching the criminals red-handed.

-Just don't lie to us!

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All those conmen,

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scammers and cheats on the fiddle are now caught in the act and

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Claimed and Shamed.

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A claimant is given a crash course in fraud.

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Undercover filming exposes an insurance cheat.

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There was absolutely no way that this claimant could deny any of this

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footage that it wasn't him, that it didn't relate to him,

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and that he hadn't committed fraud.

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And a gang that risked the lives of innocent

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motorists is brought to justice.

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The overall financial benefit to those involved was in

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the region of £1.1 million.

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Now, a good catch up with old friends can make for a great night out.

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The problem with that is they can get a bit messy.

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Now, apart from feeling a bit fuzzy the next morning,

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often the biggest headache is realising you have lost something.

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One of the easiest things to lose is your mobile phone.

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Fortunately, there are insurance policies specially designed for

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mobiles and other hand-held devices.

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Assurant offer exactly that and recently dealt with a case from what

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can only be described as a party-loving policyholder.

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So this claimant was a university graduate.

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They'd lost the phone when they were out with their friends

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celebrating, having a reunion.

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They were claiming for a top of the range iPhone 7, which would have

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a retail value of about £600.

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She was very jovial and very chatty about the circumstances of the loss.

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But in addition to her carefree attitude,

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she also had a rather impressive explanation of how she had lost her phone.

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Well, it certainly gives a new meaning to bottoms up.

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She was telling our trained agents about the fact that that she

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then logged on to Find My iPhone.

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She was following it to a street but ultimately, you know, she felt that

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somebody had taken the phone.

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It sounded like an eventful evening.

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But having lost a top of the range smartphone,

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a hangover was the least of the claimant's worries.

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At this point, while she was telling us this great story,

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there was nothing that would lead us to believe it was a fraudulent claim at this stage.

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However, as the claims handler went through the details of the loss,

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something rather unusual came to light.

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What was strange in this case was that the actual phone that the

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particular claimant had,

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they'd only updated their details one or two hours before the incident had occurred.

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To lose a phone just two hours after insuring it really is unlucky.

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So Assurant call the claimant for another chat.

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So it appeared the claimant's cautiousness had saved her from a very expensive night out.

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But as the claim was processed, alarm bells started to ring.

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Our expert fraud team and our data analytics team rather surprisingly

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discovered, through social media,

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a tweet that this particular claimant had put out the night

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before on social media.

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Now, ordinarily, sharing what you're up to online isn't a problem.

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But in this instance, it was a very big problem.

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The reason that this particular tweet was incriminating was the fact

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that it had happened before she had gone out on her all-day drinking and

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the tweet had said she'd actually lost the handset the night before.

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Unless the claimant had a rational explanation,

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then her drink wasn't the only thing on the rocks.

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So, it had been a heady cocktail of lies.

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But the claimant had been rumbled.

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It became clear that she felt she wasn't committing fraud.

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She felt that she could claim for a completely different device

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with a much greater value than her original policy details.

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In reality, it was very naive.

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It was a huge error of judgment on the claimant's part.

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And by the end of the phone call, she really would need a stiff drink.

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As conversations with insurance companies go,

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it was a pretty sobering one.

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Whilst we can all sympathise and relate to what happens on all-day

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drinking sessions with our friends, and potentially losing our devices,

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we were pleased that the claimant in this case was honest and admitted

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that they had attempted to defraud us.

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I'm pretty confident that she will not be attempting to commit fraud again.

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The claimant in this case was extremely fortunate that the matter wasn't taken any further.

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However, this is a cautionary tale that applies to all of us who have

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insurance policies like this one.

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What's really important is to consistently make sure that as you

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change your devices and phones, and buy the latest and greatest,

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just make sure the policy is up-to-date.

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A fraudster's attempt at forgery is foiled.

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When we then checked with the store itself,

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they told us that the receipts were in fact fraudulent and didn't

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come from them.

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Now, opportunistic insurance fraudsters who might add a few items

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to their claim form or say that what they're claiming for cost more than

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it actually did, is one thing.

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But what's really frightening is when you hear about insurance fraud

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carried out by organised gangs.

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One of the most common types is crash for cash.

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There are genuine accidents on the UK's roads every day.

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But crash for cash is when cars driven by fraudsters work together

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to deliberately cause collisions.

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The scam begins when one or two cars move in front of the victim.

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The first car brakes, causing the second car to stop suddenly,

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which in turn causes the innocent victim to crash into the back

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of the second car.

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Car one then drives away leaving the driver of car two

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to cash in on a hefty insurance pay-out

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at the expense of the victim's insurance company.

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Induced accidents like these are a serious problem,

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but the industry and the police are working together to stamp it out.

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Direct Line Group were recently involved in bringing down an

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operation worth over £1 million, although, initially, they had no

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idea of the scale of what they were dealing with.

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On face value, everything appeared to be genuine,

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the boxes were ticked, so to speak.

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Everything appeared as if it was an authentic claim.

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And as with due processes,

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the claims were settled in a timely fashion.

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It wasn't until we were approached by the Metropolitan Police that our

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attention was drawn to the fact that these claims that had been settled

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were likely to be actually fraudulent.

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The police provided Direct Line with the details of those suspected

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to be involved.

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Armed with those details, we were able to check our records and we

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were then able to identify, yes, indeed, we had policies and claims

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with those individuals concerned.

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We then provided the claims details together with statements and

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exhibits to the Metropolitan Police to aid them in their investigations.

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It soon transpired just how serious this fraud ring was.

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The actions of the fraudsters were extremely dangerous.

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These individuals were totally reckless in their actions.

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They were staging accidents on main arterial routes

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in and around London, with total disregard to those occupants and

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vehicles that they were inducing to crash, which could involve young

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children, vulnerable persons,

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at significant risk of personal harm.

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Thankfully, nobody had been seriously injured in any of the

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induced collisions, which was remarkable considering

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the magnitude of this dangerous operation.

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The overall financial benefit to those involved was in the region

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of £1.1 million, which spanned over 300 cash for crash collisions.

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Direct Line Group was fortunate, in a way,

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that we had four claims exposed to this group,

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but, that said, we still paid £57,000 in insurance claims.

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With almost 300 induced collisions,

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this was crash for cash on an industrial scale.

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Through their investigations,

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the police had identified the man who was behind the entire fraud.

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The ringleader in this case is Mr Jamil.

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Mr Jamil clearly had influence over those involved, as well as

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associations to a claims management company that he was running.

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Access to that claims management company would obviously give

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Mr Jamil very detailed inside knowledge of an insurance claims process.

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And it's with that knowledge that he was unable to subvert some of the

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processes and secure successful claims.

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By now, the police had identified exactly how the gang were causing

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the crashes and how they were fraudulently obtaining money from them.

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The staged accidents were formed predominately with three vehicles.

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The first vehicle was, for all intents and purposes, a decoy vehicle.

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That would then induce the second vehicle to brake heavily.

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That in turn would then cause the innocent third vehicle to also brake

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and collide with the rear of the second vehicle...

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..with total disregard to the personal safety of the occupants

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of those innocent people in the third vehicle.

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Vehicle one would drive off leaving the two vehicles at the scene.

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And it's these patterns that were becoming evident

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to the Metropolitan Police.

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In the circumstances of this organised crash,

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the offending vehicle, vehicle two, would normally have the driver,

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but more often than not, the insurer would then see third-party claimants

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coming in at a later date who will be seeking compensation in respect

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to injuries received following the impact.

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And this is a term we often refer to as phantom passengers.

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These are passengers that are claiming for injuries,

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having been in the vehicle at the time of the accident,

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when in fact they were not in the accident at all.

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So in addition to vehicle damage,

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the gang would profit by making personal injury claims against the

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victim's insurance for passengers that weren't even in the car.

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After several years thinking they had got away with it, the net

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was closing in on Jamil and his accomplices.

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The police were able to utilise the evidence that we had provided them

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in respect of our claims.

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That, together with evidence provided by other insurers,

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enabled the police to securely arrest 19 individuals who they

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believed were involved in the organised activities.

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When the case went to trial,

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numerous members of the gang were handed custodial sentences,

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but it was the ringleader, Mohammad Jamil,

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who the judge came down on the hardest with five years behind bars.

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Five years is not an insignificant sentence for which gives

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Mr Jamil time to step back and reflect on his actions and

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realistically think, "Was it all worth it?"

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For the police and the many insurance companies who had been

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targeted by Jamil, it was an excellent result.

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But most importantly, it had brought an end to the dangerous collisions

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that the gang were causing to innocent members of the public.

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These type of incidents have far-reaching consequences.

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We were lucky we can say that the injuries were somewhat minor.

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In my experience, I've actually dealt with situations such as these

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where a member of the public actually lost their life.

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So if I take this type of fraud exceptionally seriously,

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I will put all my resources into ensuring that one,

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it is identified at an early stage, two, that those who seek to

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defraud the industry are held to account.

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And thirdly, ensure that they receive the due punishments that they deserve.

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Now, if you're unfortunate enough to have an extensive period of sickness

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or a prolonged injury, that may keep you out of work,

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therefore, having a serious effect on your livelihood.

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In situations like that,

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an income protection policy can come to the rescue.

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But just like any other form of insurance,

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it is open to abuse by chancers and opportunists.

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I-COG is a company that specialises in validating insurance claims that

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have been highlighted as suspicious.

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They recently dealt with a case where an insurer suspected that one

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of their policyholders was claiming money that he wasn't entitled to.

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Income protection is essentially there for genuine customers to claim

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against should they unfortunately suffer any injury or illness that

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prevents them from working.

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And what the policy is there to do is to provide them that regular

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income during periods such as rehabilitation, hospital stays,

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or just the fact that they are permanently or temporarily disabled.

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For many, a policy like this can be a financial life-saver.

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However, with this type of insurance cover, there are clear conditions.

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One of the main exclusions for most income protection policies is any

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form of income. So as soon as an insurer suspects that there is

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undisclosed income being received, then, of course, any payments made

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against that policy would be null and void.

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And Tara's client suspected that was exactly the case with the claim they

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referred to her.

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This claimant was originally employed as a HGV driver.

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He advised that through the course of his employment, he injured his

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right shoulder and as a result of that, clearly wasn't able to carry

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out his normal employment and therefore was off work.

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Sounds plausible enough but there was a twist.

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This was referred to us because the claimant had just incorporated

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a business at Companies House in a completely different market.

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And, of course, that was in no way synonymous with the claim form he'd presented.

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Having taken on the case,

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the first task was to carry out a full investigation of the claimant.

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But it soon became apparent

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that they were dealing with a bit of an entrepreneur.

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We had a range of Companies House signatures which matched

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the claim form that the claimant had presented.

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We had social media profiles for the new business which was going through

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its infancy, so marketing and promoting that business

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was very strong.

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This all tied back to the claimant.

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This new business venture definitely didn't tie in with someone

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completely unable to work.

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And it was the claimant's online activities that had provided a lot

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of the evidence.

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When someone says they can't do something and, of course, on

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social media they're saying something else,

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naturally that's going to call into question the authenticity of the claim.

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With evidence of a new company incepted in the claimant's name and

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clear activity to promote it, it was time to see first-hand exactly what

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he was up to on a daily basis.

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As soon as we profiled everything, we very quickly moved into

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a surveillance operation which was carried out for a couple of days on

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all of the premises that we'd identified and the subject himself.

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It wasn't long before the undercover operative hit the jackpot.

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So what we have here is very active left and right movements

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of the right arm, originating from the right shoulder

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which clearly we'd been advised was totally impaired.

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Bending, reaching up.

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This isn't just a one-off movement either, this is continuous over ten

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minutes, very free movement in all directions.

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The reaching with both arms,

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by sponging the windows and the shutters down.

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At no time even showing any ounce of pain or impingement

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from the shoulder at all.

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In addition to it being crystal clear what he was doing,

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there was also no confusion as to why he was doing it.

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What we actually already knew at this stage

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is this commercial premises was part of his new business start-up.

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So the love and care that he's paying attention to the property by

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cleaning it in such detail, before the shop even opens to the public,

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you know, he's showing a lot of pride in his new business.

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And now we can see him here actually stocking the shelves for the new

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business within the premises.

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As evidential footage goes, it was pretty much as conclusive as it gets.

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I'll be honest, when I first saw the footage, I was highly entertained.

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Because not only had the intelligence that we discovered

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been proven to be correct, but the movements were probably freer than

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myself in cleaning the outside of the premises, bending,

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stretching, wash on, wash off.

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It was... It was very entertaining.

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But as amusing as it was to watch,

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the underlying impact of the footage was very serious indeed.

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What we have to remember here is whilst this is going on,

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this individual is still advising his insurers that not only is he

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so injured that he cannot work, but he's not receiving any other income.

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And yet here we can see him sitting next to the till

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and a merchant payment machine which is actually registered in his name

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for the new business.

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Now, remember this is still a man who's saying that he has no other

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form of income. He's the sole shareholder,

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the sole director of the business.

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But he's still adamant that he is unable to work due to injury.

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And he's quite happy to continue his charade of defrauding the insurer.

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So, whichever angle you looked at it,

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there was absolutely no way that this claimant could deny any of this

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footage, that it wasn't him, that didn't relate to him and that

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he hadn't committed fraud.

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The claimant had been well and truly caught out.

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His insurance company's suspicions have been confirmed and they now had

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the proof they needed.

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It was immediately referred back to insurers.

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The payments were immediately stopped and the whole policy was voided.

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But the claimant wasn't going to go down without trying to worm his way

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out of it.

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The claimant's immediate reaction when the evidence was

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presented to him was to tell a lie and to say that he was actually

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helping a friend out in the premises on that particular day

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and there were no ties to him.

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Well, of course, clearly we'd a complete bulletproof case that

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that was not in fact true.

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And the claimant eventually did acquiesce and accepted the position.

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By this stage, the claimant had been paid £28,000 from his income

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protection policy.

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But if he thought he was able to keep it,

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he had another think coming.

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It was then important to do the right thing.

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So a law firm that we work closely with were then instructed to recover,

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through the civil process, all of the funds that he had received and

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he has now paid back every penny that he was illegally paid by the insurer.

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It's a cautionary tale.

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The claimant had started out with a legitimate injury and a legitimate claim.

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But thanks to his greed and dishonesty, he now had nothing.

0:25:220:25:26

Surveillance is being used more and more to identify insurance fraudsters.

0:25:330:25:38

But who are the people who capture the footage that's so often the

0:25:380:25:41

difference between missing or identifying a fraudulent claim?

0:25:410:25:45

We decided to find out.

0:25:450:25:46

As you can probably imagine, following and secretly filming

0:25:480:25:51

someone without being detected for hours on end is anything but easy.

0:25:510:25:56

But what does it take to do the job?

0:25:560:25:58

For those who think spending up to 14 hours at a time simply watching

0:26:160:26:21

and waiting is a cushy number, think again.

0:26:210:26:23

In the fight against insurance fraud,

0:27:020:27:04

undercover operatives are here to stay.

0:27:040:27:07

And they're no longer reserved for just the biggest cases.

0:27:070:27:10

Still to come - a ham-fisted attempt to cash in with a bogus claim.

0:27:330:27:39

It transpired that the claimant was in fact a professional boxer.

0:27:390:27:44

And only six weeks after the date of this accident,

0:27:440:27:47

he had been involved in a bout which had featured on YouTube.

0:27:470:27:50

In their effort to combat fraud, insurers are carrying out an

0:27:570:28:01

increasing amount of detective work to separate the genuine claims

0:28:010:28:04

from the bogus ones.

0:28:040:28:07

But sometimes attempts at fraud are so sloppy

0:28:070:28:10

that it's all too easy for insurers to catch them out.

0:28:100:28:13

Sadly, in this day and age, theft is an all too common occurrence and it

0:28:190:28:24

only takes a split-second to become a victim.

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Whilst it can't take away the unpleasantness of what happened,

0:28:270:28:31

an insurance policy can replace our possessions like for like.

0:28:310:28:35

Insurers RSA recently dealt with a case from a customer in her hour of need.

0:28:350:28:40

Unfortunately, Ms Chadwick had been travelling on a train...

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..and somebody had taken her handbag from the overhead luggage compartment.

0:28:480:28:54

And she had lost the contents of the handbag,

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which included some electrical goods and the total value of which was

0:28:570:29:02

around £1,500.

0:29:020:29:03

So a simple and straightforward claim,

0:29:050:29:08

which RSA promptly began to process.

0:29:080:29:11

However, some routine checks about the address linked to the policy

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instantly raised a few questions.

0:29:140:29:16

We checked to see whether there had been any previous claims and we

0:29:180:29:22

couldn't find any previous claims against Ms Chadwick,

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but we did find there was a Mr Penhill who had made some

0:29:250:29:29

previous claims from the same address.

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But Ms Chadwick told us that this was in fact her landlord

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and therefore it didn't raise any particular suspicion.

0:29:350:29:39

We also asked Ms Chadwick to produce, if she could,

0:29:400:29:45

any receipts or anything else, photographs,

0:29:450:29:48

to validate the ownership of the items that she said she'd lost.

0:29:480:29:53

And this she did.

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So far, so good. Everything appeared to be above board and with

0:29:560:30:00

photographs to back up the items stolen from the train,

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it was full steam ahead with the claim.

0:30:030:30:06

Or was it?

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At that point, it seemed like a genuine claim and in normal

0:30:110:30:15

circumstances, we would've validated the items that had been lost

0:30:150:30:19

and proceeded to settlement.

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However, it soon transpired that these weren't normal circumstances.

0:30:220:30:27

Most people are probably aware that buried within the electronics,

0:30:270:30:33

as it were, of a photograph,

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is data that will tell you when and where the photograph was taken.

0:30:350:30:41

Such digital information is called metadata.

0:30:410:30:45

In examining the photographs that had been sent to us,

0:30:450:30:50

we found that the metadata in the photographs,

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embedded in the photographs actually told us that the photographs

0:30:530:30:59

post-dated the loss, so that clearly aroused our suspicion.

0:30:590:31:04

And it's hardly surprising it did.

0:31:040:31:07

After all, how was it possible to take photos of items

0:31:070:31:10

that had been stolen after they'd been stolen?

0:31:100:31:13

But if this wasn't enough of a smoking gun, RSA soon uncovered even

0:31:150:31:19

more evidence that suggested this was a fraudulent claim.

0:31:190:31:24

We co-operate with other insurers to help us combat fraud and another

0:31:240:31:29

insurer informed us of an interesting fact

0:31:290:31:33

in relation to Mr Penhill.

0:31:330:31:35

They had dealt with a previous claim by him and amongst the items lost

0:31:350:31:42

was an item of jewellery, which surprise, surprise was identical to

0:31:420:31:47

an item that Miss Chadwick had said she had lost.

0:31:470:31:51

And the two items were purchased on the same day from the same store.

0:31:510:31:57

What a coincidence.

0:31:570:31:59

A bizarre coincidence indeed.

0:32:000:32:03

Of course, when we then checked with the store itself,

0:32:030:32:06

they told us that the receipts were in fact fraudulent

0:32:060:32:10

and didn't come from them.

0:32:100:32:13

So first, we had photos of allegedly stolen items miraculously

0:32:130:32:16

taken after they'd been stolen.

0:32:160:32:19

But now RSA had uncovered a previous claim by Chadwick's landlord for

0:32:190:32:23

identical items purchased in the same store on the same day and both

0:32:230:32:29

Chadwick and Penhill's claims were backed up with nearly identical

0:32:290:32:33

fraudulent receipts.

0:32:330:32:34

And if the claim hadn't been derailed already, well,

0:32:340:32:37

the evidence just kept on coming.

0:32:370:32:40

We also found other receipts from a shop which actually closed down

0:32:400:32:44

three years ago and these receipts post-dated that, so, again,

0:32:440:32:49

these were not genuine. By this time, of course,

0:32:490:32:52

we'd determined we weren't going to pay this claim.

0:32:520:32:54

It was fraudulent.

0:32:540:32:56

We informed them of this fact and we reported both of them to IFED for

0:32:560:33:03

them to consider a criminal prosecution in this case.

0:33:030:33:07

IFED is the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department.

0:33:070:33:11

Formed in 2012, its dedicated police unit's sole purpose is to tackle

0:33:110:33:16

insurance fraud and they were only too happy to take the case on.

0:33:160:33:21

IFED investigated the case thoroughly, and at the end of their

0:33:210:33:25

investigation, they charged both with fraud.

0:33:250:33:28

They appeared at court, where they both pleaded guilty.

0:33:290:33:32

Penhill was sentenced to six months imprisonment,

0:33:320:33:36

suspended for 18 months.

0:33:360:33:38

And Chadwick was given a 12 month community order,

0:33:380:33:42

with a supervision order.

0:33:420:33:45

Justice had been served after what can only be described

0:33:450:33:49

as a poorly-planned and executed attempt at fraud.

0:33:490:33:52

Yet, incredibly, it appears that at least one of the fraudsters saw

0:33:520:33:56

themselves as a victim.

0:33:560:33:57

As a bit of a footnote to this case, Miss Chadwick told us several times

0:33:590:34:04

during our investigation that, you know,

0:34:040:34:08

she was trying to give answers to our questions and accusing us

0:34:080:34:14

quite ironically of using underhand tactics to catch her.

0:34:140:34:21

I'd be quite happy to leave it to the members of the public to

0:34:210:34:25

determine who was using underhand tactics in this particular case.

0:34:250:34:29

For many of us, social media has become part of our everyday lives.

0:34:350:34:40

It is a brilliant and easy way of keeping in touch with friends and

0:34:400:34:44

family and sharing what you've been up to.

0:34:440:34:46

However, when it comes to identifying fraudulent or grossly

0:34:460:34:49

exaggerated insurance claims, social media can also have a huge part to play.

0:34:490:34:55

Someone who's well aware of the importance of evidence from the web

0:35:000:35:03

is Catherine Burt.

0:35:030:35:05

She's Head of Counter Fraud at law firm DAC Beachcroft,

0:35:050:35:09

who recently dealt with a case where social media packed quite a punch.

0:35:090:35:13

The claim that we received was from the driver of a car,

0:35:150:35:18

who said he'd been involved in a road traffic accident.

0:35:180:35:20

On the day in question, the chap had been driving along the road.

0:35:210:35:25

He'd come to a set of traffic lights and there was a car in front of him

0:35:250:35:28

stationary, at the traffic lights, which were on red.

0:35:280:35:30

He said that he'd stayed back behind that car,

0:35:320:35:35

a couple of car lengths away and was just sitting at the lights when the

0:35:350:35:39

car in front suddenly started to reverse back.

0:35:390:35:42

Indeed, a frightening situation to be in and one where there's only so

0:35:420:35:47

much you can do to stop it.

0:35:470:35:48

His version of events was that he tried to stop the car by pipping

0:35:490:35:53

his horn and shouting,

0:35:530:35:54

but the car picked up speed and reversed quite quickly into his car.

0:35:540:35:58

He said he sustained injuries to his neck and back.

0:36:040:36:07

He was basically claiming whiplash injuries.

0:36:070:36:10

But, as Catherine points out,

0:36:100:36:12

just because you've been in a minor coming together between two vehicles

0:36:120:36:16

doesn't automatically mean you'll suffer whiplash.

0:36:160:36:18

We found that whiplash injuries are very common in road traffic accidents,

0:36:200:36:24

but there is a specific amount of force required and if the force is

0:36:240:36:28

very minimal, it's unlikely that there would be any injury at all.

0:36:280:36:31

Nevertheless, the claimant was saying he'd been injured in the

0:36:320:36:35

collision and was seeking compensation.

0:36:350:36:37

He would've been expecting general damages for his injury of

0:36:390:36:42

approximately £2,000.

0:36:420:36:44

But when DAC spoke to their policyholder, her account was

0:36:440:36:48

significantly less dramatic than that of the man who was

0:36:480:36:51

claiming to have been injured.

0:36:510:36:52

The first suspicious point was the difference in events between the

0:36:540:36:59

claimant and the defendant.

0:36:590:37:00

She had been bringing her children home from nursery and was stopped at

0:37:020:37:05

the traffic lights. One of the children started to cry and she was

0:37:050:37:09

distracted and at that point she felt a small impact.

0:37:090:37:12

The other driver, the claimant, got out of his vehicle,

0:37:170:37:20

was quite aggressive and was claiming it had been a substantial

0:37:200:37:24

impact, which she didn't agree with at all.

0:37:240:37:26

Differing versions of events from the drivers involved in a collision

0:37:260:37:30

is neither new, nor surprising.

0:37:300:37:32

However, it was the woman who very quickly appeared to be the most reliable.

0:37:320:37:37

This was made more suspicious when we realised the damage to the

0:37:370:37:42

claimant's car had only cost £61 to repair.

0:37:420:37:46

As I'm sure anybody will realise, whenever you have your car repaired,

0:37:460:37:50

it's generally expensive.

0:37:500:37:51

So the parts had only cost £30.

0:37:510:37:54

The labour had only cost just over £30.

0:37:540:37:56

So it was obvious from that, that the impact hadn't been anywhere near

0:37:560:38:01

what the claimant said.

0:38:010:38:02

And the man's credibility was soon cast into even more doubt.

0:38:030:38:08

The claimant had said that he'd never been involved in any other

0:38:080:38:11

road traffic accidents and he reported that to his medical expert.

0:38:110:38:14

Our routine checks showed that he had in fact been involved in quite a

0:38:140:38:18

high number of previous road traffic accidents and he had made claims as

0:38:180:38:22

a result of those, so it was difficult to see how he could've

0:38:220:38:25

forgotten about them.

0:38:250:38:27

So far, we have an allegedly serious injury,

0:38:270:38:30

despite a minuscule amount of damage to his car and a selective memory

0:38:300:38:34

when it came to recalling previous accidents and claims.

0:38:340:38:38

But the dubious points of this case didn't end there.

0:38:380:38:41

During the course of the claim, we saw many inconsistencies in various documents.

0:38:420:38:48

Two medical reports were prepared and the claimant wasn't

0:38:480:38:52

consistent in what he told the medical experts.

0:38:520:38:55

On one occasion, we were told that the injuries would last for three

0:38:550:39:01

months and he confirmed that they had resolved in three months.

0:39:010:39:04

On one occasion, he told the medical expert that he was still suffering

0:39:040:39:07

symptoms after eight months.

0:39:070:39:10

He also served a signed witness statement,

0:39:100:39:12

which again contained inconsistencies.

0:39:120:39:14

For example, on one occasion he said his vehicle had been pushed back two

0:39:140:39:18

car lengths by the impact of the claim.

0:39:180:39:21

On another, he said at the end of the accident the tow bar from the

0:39:210:39:25

vehicle in front was still attached to his car.

0:39:250:39:28

So that clearly couldn't be true.

0:39:280:39:29

With so many inconsistencies, the claim was far from rock solid.

0:39:300:39:35

However, the next revelation really would have the claimant on the ropes.

0:39:350:39:40

It transpired that the claimant was in fact a professional boxer.

0:39:410:39:45

And only six weeks after the date of this accident,

0:39:460:39:49

he'd been involved in a bout which had featured on YouTube.

0:39:490:39:53

The footage quite clearly shows that he is perfectly able to move around.

0:39:550:40:00

He'd managed to survive for eight rounds and probably given quite

0:40:000:40:03

a good account of himself until, in the eighth round,

0:40:030:40:05

he was knocked out.

0:40:050:40:06

Unfortunately for the claimant, everything that the insurer needed

0:40:080:40:12

to show that his claim had been grossly exaggerated was out there

0:40:120:40:15

for the whole world to see.

0:40:150:40:18

It was very surprising to find such a contradictory piece of evidence

0:40:180:40:21

quite freely available on the internet.

0:40:210:40:24

It does seem to be the case, however, that people don't equate

0:40:240:40:27

the internet with something that will actually

0:40:270:40:29

come back to haunt them and be used as evidence against them.

0:40:290:40:33

Despite the video footage completely flooring his claim,

0:40:340:40:37

the man was determined to see it through.

0:40:370:40:40

During the course of the claim,

0:40:400:40:42

the claimant instructed three sets of solicitors.

0:40:420:40:45

The first two sets of solicitors withdrew from the claim

0:40:450:40:49

once we'd put our evidence to them.

0:40:490:40:51

But the third set of solicitors were prepared to take

0:40:510:40:54

the claim on, issue proceedings and bring it to trial.

0:40:540:40:58

This guy was either extremely stubborn,

0:40:580:41:01

or as the footage they discovered suggested,

0:41:010:41:04

simply didn't know when he was beaten.

0:41:040:41:07

Rather surprisingly the case did go to court.

0:41:070:41:09

We disclosed the footage of the YouTube video and the claimant's

0:41:090:41:13

solicitors still proceeded.

0:41:130:41:15

However, when it came to the day of the trial,

0:41:150:41:18

the claimant didn't attend court and so the judge was prepared to dismiss

0:41:180:41:23

the claim and made a finding of fundamental dishonesty.

0:41:230:41:27

This effectively means the judge didn't believe any part of the man's claim.

0:41:270:41:31

But if he thought by not turning up he'd escape any repercussions

0:41:310:41:35

for his dishonest actions, then he was in for a very nasty surprise indeed.

0:41:350:41:41

When the court makes a finding of fundamental dishonesty,

0:41:410:41:44

that means that we then have the ability to get a costs order

0:41:440:41:48

and enforce it against them, so that they actually have to pay the money

0:41:480:41:51

back and they feel it in their pocket.

0:41:510:41:53

And feel it he did.

0:41:550:41:57

The original claim made by the claimant would probably have got him

0:41:570:41:59

something just over £2,000.

0:41:590:42:03

To get that amount of money, he clearly risked quite a large penalty

0:42:030:42:07

and he's now ended up with an order against him for over £11,000,

0:42:070:42:11

being the costs that the insurers incurred in defeating the claim.

0:42:110:42:16

So, this boxing bully's tactics had backfired and he'd been given

0:42:160:42:21

a taste of his own medicine.

0:42:210:42:22

Only he'd been hit where it really hurts - in the pocket.

0:42:220:42:27

This was a case which should never have been pursued.

0:42:270:42:30

All of the time that is spent on investigating and

0:42:300:42:34

repudiating fraudulent claims could actually be spent by insurance

0:42:340:42:38

companies checking on the original claims and making sure they

0:42:380:42:42

get paid properly and quickly.

0:42:420:42:43

So it would be much better if we could eradicate those claims.

0:42:430:42:47

Insurance fraud in this country costs all of us money,

0:42:540:42:57

but the days of no questions asked pay-outs are numbered.

0:42:570:43:00

Insurers are using ever more sophisticated technology

0:43:000:43:04

to identify, track and prosecute fraudsters and courts are using new

0:43:040:43:09

powers to put these criminals behind bars.

0:43:090:43:12

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