Around Ealing Autumn 2014 | Page 45

FRAUDLINE Don’t let tricks cause a fright A fifth of insurance claims are fraudulent. These tricks and scams steal from the public purse – so it is your money they are spiriting away. E aling Council sometimes finds itself on the end of fraudulent insurance claims: Either completely fabricated, or exaggerated, by people looking to make some money. Every year, this fraud results in millions of pounds of taxpayers’ funds being wasted in the UK. These criminal attempts to steal from the public purse are not victimless crimes. You, the taxpayer, are always left to pick up the bill – and, consequently, funding for our local services suffers. Even if an insurance claim is turned down, you are still paying for it to be investigated and defended. Every pound we save by preventing this type of fraud could be spent on local services instead. In these tough economic times, it is especially important. By calling FraudLine, you can help us stop these crimes against our community. If you think you have some information about a fraudulent insurance claim you can call 0800 328 9270 – a special 24-hour hotline. It is free and confidential, and is manned by people with the expertise to help. The council, and FraudLine, has the support of the governmentfunded Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department, led by City of London Police. TYPES OF TRICKS There are common types of insurance fraud. These include making exaggerated claims by pretending an accident was far worse than it really was; untrue personal injury claims that describe a false set of circumstances, time or place of an accident; completely bogus claims that use invented symptoms or an incident that never occurred; and multiple claims where the fraudster knowingly makes claims for the same injury in a number of different local authority areas. FRAUDLINE Call the 24-hour freephone hotline 0800 328 9270 around ealing Autumn 2014 45