Police Sting Signed

Travel Claim Fraud Still A Problem

September 16th, 2009

Why do people do it? That is, attempting to claim on their travel insurance for non-existant incidents. This has been highlighted by the case this year of the two British women, now languishing in Rio, convicted involving potential travel claim fraud and a recent insurance industry report citing that travellers to Spain and India are most likely to make a fraudulent claim on their travel insurance. Claims handling companies have become more fraud aware and are now primed to spot "telltale signs" of false claims, sometimes using voice monitoring equipment when dealing with individual claimants, to limit the widespread travel claim abuse.

But insurance fraud is on the rise with many customers pretending that possessions, such as expensive cameras and iPods, have been stolen overseas, while others are upping the value of what has been stolen in the case of genuine theft. As the losses are abroad and police overseas are often not interested in investigating, people can claim possessions have gone missing. Some travellers who realise that they cannot afford holidays booked earlier in the year are believed to be cancelling trips, after feigning illness and tricking doctors into issuing certificates stating that they are unwell. Most travel insurance policies offer cancellation refunds when a traveller falls ill before a trip.

Sadly, if someone commits fraud, it's honest customers who end up paying in the form of higher premiums. Despite the high profile case in Rio, there are few prosecutions as the facts of cases are often difficult to prove. However the sting in the tail for those that do try, then if the claim is rejected, that goes on their credit rating and it will make loans and insurance more expensive in the future.

About the Author

South African born Keith has lived in the south of England for most of his life. After graduating from University with a degree in Business Information Systems Management he decided to start Strawberrysoup a website design company based in West Sussex and Dorset. Keith successfully gained entry into the Southampton University Air Squadron and spent over 12 months training to fly. Since then he has continued to follow his interest in flying and has now began his own training in the form of a Private Pilot\\\\\\\'s Licence. Keith also spent 13 months working within the Image and Printing Group at Hewlett Packard in Bracknell. Throughout his time there, he was responsible for many activities including events organisation and website design and maintenance.

Do you know how many stolen ID's were gotten?

We live near the Hyrum, Utah Swift Packing Company....

Our daughter and son-in-law live near a place where people park their cars then take a boardwalk hike up the mountain. Generally, women leave their purses locked in their cars and often men leave everything but the car keys....several months ago, the windows of these cars were being smashed and only purses and wallets were stolen. Signs were posted telling people not to leave valuables in their cars because of robberies...but most didn't take notice as this is an upscale area. The police set up a sting operation and guess what! Illegal Mexicans with a rap sheet a mile long were running this operation. They were selling the information to other illegals....so Pedro became Mike..or Maria became Sarah....

One woman had 6 people using her ID....

Everyone should check their personal financial information on a monthly basis. It doesn't take much time to ruin someones credit and totally screw up their life!

Here is a site that counts many of the issues
http://immigrationcounters.com/
pass this on to others so they know what IS HAPPENING

Sting & The Police - Roxanne