Last year, Aviva detected fraud totalling £233m and identified more than 18,400 suspicious claims across its brands, including Direct Line. The carrier says ghost broking rose by 7% and that it stopped a total of 105,000 bogus insurance applications during the year.

Aviva’s analysis also highlights the increasing use of AI by fraudsters to generate documents and images. This is especially prevalent in the motor market where AI tools are used to fabricate accident scenes and damage imagery to support false or exaggerated claims.

Pete Ward, head of claims counter fraud at Aviva, said: “Fraud isn’t a victimless crime – it drives up the cost of insurance for everyone. We have a duty to ensure our customers don’t foot the bill for other people’s dishonesty and we work tirelessly to root out fraud and stop it wherever we find it.

“We’re seeing fraud become more sophisticated, from exaggerated claims to the use of AI generated documents and we’re continuing to invest in the tools and expertise needed to identify and stop it.

“By detecting and preventing these claims, we’re helping protect honest customers from the cost of fraud.”