06 February, 2025
Allianz UK prevents record level of fraud
Detected fraud in 2024 hits £157m - 10% higher than previous year.
Leading insurer Allianz UK uncovered 33,027 instances of insurance fraud worth a total of £157.24m in 2024 – equivalent to 90 frauds worth £430,000 a day, and up 10% on the £142.38m figure for 2023.
Fraud trends
Detection of application fraud continued to grow, with trends including increasing levels of policy abuse, misrepresentation and ID theft, including a high number of ghost brokers, resulting in a year-on-year increase in prevented fraud of 9%. Additionally, there was an increase in frauds involving moped and motorcycle riders, often connected to the delivery industry, trying to circumvent having the proper level of cover in place.
Across motor and casualty, trends included:
- A continued increase in the frequency of non-tariff injuries (injuries excluding soft-tissue/whiplash claims) being claimed.
- Moped riders and couriers inducing and fabricating incidents to make claims often called ‘cash-for-crash’ scams.
- Professional enabler-led scams, where someone encourages or provides false evidence to support a bogus insurance claim.
- Continuation of noise induced hearing loss scams, including recycled claims, where one claim is declined, only for the claimant to try and claim again in a slightly different way.
Property insurance fraud has continued to see rises in fake and exaggerated theft claims, which in commercial lines was up by as much as 29% year on year. In personal lines, the introduction of voice analytics has uncovered opportunistic fraud, which may previously have gone unnoticed.
Ben Fletcher, director of fraud at Allianz UK said:
“Insurance fraud is a serious problem that pushes up the cost of policies for honest consumers and adds to insurers’ costs.
“The vast majority of claims are genuine and our focus as a business is to ensure we settle those promptly, but the sad reality is that some people will go to enormous lengths to make fraudulent claims.
“The increase in the amount of fraud can be attributed to several factors. The ongoing cost of living challenge and financial struggles people are facing is driving some people to commit insurance fraud.
“We are resolute in our determination to identify and defend against any type of fraud and use a variety of methods to detect it. We share information with the police and other insurers to prevent fraud happening and will not hesitate to prosecute cases.
“Potential fraudsters need to understand that if you try and commit fraud, then be warned, you may end up with a criminal record.”
Fraud examples
Prosecuting fraudsters in £100,000 cash for crash case
In one case, Allianz UK and another insurer worked with the City of London Police to successfully prosecute three men in a £100,000 cash for crash fraud.
Two of the men deliberately staged a collision between two cars, including an Aston Martin, that they falsely stated was worth around £60,000, and went on to submit claims on insurance.
Inconsistencies between the trio’s accounts of the collision and the damage to the cars raised alarm bells and the case was referred to the City of London Police's Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) for investigation.
A jury at Gloucester Crown Court found the men guilty of fraud by false representation and perverting the course of justice following a three-week trial in August 2024.
£4,300 false case for broken teeth
In one case, a claimant suffering whiplash injuries following a car accident later went on to claim dental injuries after claiming he hit the steering wheel. He claimed £4,300 for dental treatment after claiming he fractured two teeth and required root canal work and porcelain crowns.
His case went to trial, and it was pointed out that he had previously made no mention of damaged teeth during his original claim. During cross-examination, the claimant asked to discontinue the claim and agreed to pay costs.
How Allianz fights fraudsters
Allianz uses an array of sophisticated technologies such as voice analytics and machine learning tools to detect fraudsters. It has also significantly increased collaboration with broker partners to identify and prevent fraud.
About Allianz Holdings plc
Allianz Holdings plc is the non-regulated holding company which owns the principal insurance operations of Allianz SE in Great Britain including Allianz Insurance.
About Allianz
The Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with around 125 million* private and corporate customers in nearly 70 countries. Allianz customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services, ranging from property, life and health insurance to assistance services to credit insurance and global business insurance. Allianz is one of the world’s largest investors, managing around 764 billion euros** on behalf of its insurance customers. Furthermore, our asset managers PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors manage about 1.8 trillion euros** of third-party assets. Thanks to our systematic integration of ecological and social criteria in our business processes and investment decisions, we are among the leaders in the insurance industry in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. In 2023, over 157,000 employees achieved total business volume of 161.7 billion euros and an operating profit of 14.7 billion euros for the group.
* Including non-consolidated entities with Allianz customers.
** As of September 30, 2024.
Mandatory corporate information: Corporate disclosures
These assessments are, as always, subject to the disclaimer provided below.
Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements
This document includes forward-looking statements, such as prospects or expectations, that are based on management's current views and assumptions and subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance figures, or events may differ significantly from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements.
Deviations may arise due to changes in factors including, but not limited to, the following: (i) the general economic and competitive situation in the Allianz’s core business and core markets, (ii) the performance of financial markets (in particular market volatility, liquidity, and credit events), (iii) adverse publicity, regulatory actions or litigation with respect to the Allianz Group, other well-known companies and the financial services industry generally, (iv) the frequency and severity of insured loss events, including those resulting from natural catastrophes, and the development of loss expenses, (v) mortality and morbidity levels and trends, (vi) persistency levels, (vii) the extent of credit defaults, (viii) interest rate levels, (ix) currency exchange rates, most notably the EUR/USD exchange rate, (x) changes in laws and regulations, including tax regulations, (xi) the impact of acquisitions including related integration issues and reorganization measures, and (xii) the general competitive conditions that, in each individual case, apply at a local, regional, national, and/or global level. Many of these changes can be exacerbated by terrorist activities.
No duty to update
Allianz assumes no obligation to update any information or forward-looking statement contained herein, save for any information we are required to disclose by law.
Privacy Note
Allianz SE is committed to protecting your personal data. Find out more in our privacy statement.
Press contacts
Sara Robinson
External communications manager
External communications manager
Email: sara.robinson@allianz.co.uk
Mobile: 07918 470 463
Get notified as soon as we issue a new press release:
