Public Liability
Public liability insurance is designed to protect the insured person, business or organisation against claims for expenses relating to accident or loss around their home or business premises.
The opportunities to commit public liability insurance fraud are numerous and can include:
False claims for injuries relating to falls (commonly known as 'slip and fall accidents') or other incidents where it may not be difficult to exaggerate the consequences and put in unreasonably large claims for damages, injury or inconvenience
False claims made for stress caused by such events as lift malfunction
False claims made out of vindictiveness where the claimant refuses to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions
False claims for property damage
False claims against hospitality venues for 'food poisoning' and other hard-to-confirm incidents
False claims for swimming pool and sports facility/gym injuries
These kinds of fraudulent claims try to assign blame to the insured person, organisation or venue and the amounts sought in compensation can be immense, often out of proportion to the injuries allegedly suffered.
Travel Insurance
People buy travel insurance for peace of mind and protection when things go wrong, especially while travelling overseas. Travellers often experience emergencies, illness and medical costs, lost luggage, cancellations and many other traumatic or inconvenient events. While many people benefit from this kind of insurance in genuine circumstances, some people might use it as an opportunity to gain a payout by making a dishonest claim.
Travel insurance frauds include:
- Claiming for luggage, property, passports or currency, allegedly stolen by a person or persons unknown
- Attempting to exaggerate the extent of an actual loss by adding extra items to the claim, or inflating the value of the items lost, or completely falsifying a loss
As with all insurance fraud, the pocket it ultimately hits is yours.
If you have information that you believe in good faith is insurance fraud, report it NOW!