ALMOST half of UK consumers believe it is acceptable to make a fraudulent travel insurance claim according to new figures.
A survey from law firm BLM has revealed that 46 per cent of respondents saw no issue in making a fraudulent claim against a hotel.
The insurance fraud specialist firm, surveyed 2,000 consumers across the UK, with members of the public not only seeing insurance fraud as a victimless crime, but many not viewing it as a crime at all.
Rachel Keenan, associate solicitor at BLM in Belfast said fraudulent claims do have victims.
"The victims are the public themselves with the immediate impact of increased costs for the consumer and businesses, particularly local travel agents, who bear the brunt of claims made following accidents and illnesses that occur abroad, including food poisoning. Reform is critical; insurers, the travel industry and the government must work together and should look to measures introduced by government with regard to whiplash claims in 2013 to set standards and regulation in this area.”
Ms Keenan also highlighted the rise in unscrupulous claims agencies, who actively target holiday-makers, as one particular area of concern.
“Despite current obstacles to tourism and travel, the industry is still booming with just 6 per cent of consumers claiming to be less likely to travel now than they were last year . Unfortunately, with a high number of holiday-goers comes a high number of cases of fraud.” she said.
“Fraud is, at its heart, a consumer issue; however, we are finding that the increase in fraudulent claims is being driven by rogue claims management companies who are targeting holiday makers. Our own research has shown that 5 per cent of consumers have received unsolicited calls by claims agencies on their return from an all-inclusive holiday," she added.
