Industry News from Yes Insurance

A gang of fraudsters have been arrested over bogus car insurance claims which are leading to higher premiums for innocent motorists.

Police swooped on the gang after they managed to claim £500,000 for a series of faked accidents, reports the Sunday Times.

Five men were arrested on suspicion of staging at least 57 accidents, costing honest drivers up to £40 a year on insurance premiums.

One man alone is accused of using 15 aliases to open bank accounts, rent cars and make bogus insurance claims.

The raids, which were carried out by City of London Police, were part of operation Phantom, which aims to crack down on the crime.

Police say around 10,000 such offences take place each year and other road users are the victims.

The gang, who were arrested last week, are said to have used a number of different tactics to get their money.

Some of the time they claimed on accidents that never happened and other times they staged crashes.

A new intelligence database has now been set up which will help to cut down on fraudulent claims being made, by allowing companies to share information.

"[The database] means we will be able to identify patterns of claims. In the past, if one person was making fraudulent claims against ten different insurance companies, it might not have been picked up," Association of British Insurers spokesperson Kelly Ostler told the Sunday Times.

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