Cost of car insurance fraud to victims revealed in new police campaign

Motorists are being warned to ‘Steer Clear of Fraud’ as part of a new campaign to raise awareness of fake car insurance scammers.

Action Fraud - the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime - has received over 850 reports of ‘ghost broking’ in the last three years, with reported losses from individuals and organisations totalling £631,000.

On average, each individual victim lost £769 from this type of fraud, which typically targets men in their 20s via social media.

The City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) has launched a national awareness campaign to warn motorists about the dangers of buying fake car insurance from fraudsters, also known as ‘ghost brokers’, who are potentially leaving thousands of unsuspecting victims driving without insurance.

Action on fraud

Of the reports received by Action Fraud, around half resulted in action being taken against the offenders by IFED following their investigations into ghost broking over the past three years, which included a man who set up 133 fake policies, a teenage ghost broker who was sentenced to jail and a man who made £59,000 from ghost broking.

However, it is thought that the true number of ghost broking victims may be much higher than this figure, as some motorists may be driving on the roads unaware that their policy is fraudulent.

It is only when they are stopped by police or attempt to make a claim will they find out that they don’t have genuine cover, ledng polie to believe that ghost broking is actually being under-reported.

What is ghost broking?

Ghost broking is the name given to a tactic used by fraudsters who sell fraudulent car insurance by a number of different methods. They typically carry out the fraud by one of three ways: they will either forge insurance documents, falsify the driver’s details to bring the price down or take out a genuine policy, before cancelling it soon after and claiming the refund plus the victim’s money.

It is a legal obligation to have valid car insurance and without it victims will experience the severe harm caused by ghost broking, including:

Points on their driving licenceVehicle seizure and possible destruction of itA fixed penalty noticeCosts to retrieve impounded vehicleLiable for claims costs if involved in an accident