Aviva detected more than 12,000 instance of fraud in 2020, a rise of 10% on the previous year. On motor policy applications, uncovered fraud was up by 34% and on motor injury claims it rose by 20%. Aviva said it saw a 26% rise in the proportion of home insurance claims rejected for fraud. Detected fraud on EL and PL claims was up by 5%.

David Lovely, claims director GI at Aviva, said, “The recessionary factors caused by COVID-19 have arguably created the biggest fraud threat to customers in a generation. Currently, government intervention is mitigating many of these financial impacts, but unfortunately we expect to see significantly more fraud in the coming year.

“Policy fraud, such as ghost broking, is one area in particular where believe we will see increases in attempted fraud, as people misrepresent policies to access cheaper premiums. As households and businesses come under increased financial stress, we expect to see more claims fraud, especially on home, small business and liability policies.

“The good news is that whilst we expect to see more fraud, we broadly expect it to be more of the same types of fraud, and we believe our existing controls will continue to respond very well. However, we remain vigilant for new types or methods of fraud, and are continuing to invest in strengthening our fraud controls over the next two years – to protect genuine customers from the impact of fraud, and to keep premiums low.”

Share Story: