Rdmoney.co.uk
8 February 2012
Half of us are willing to commit fraud
The British have always prided themselves on being an honest bunch with low levels of political and financial corruption compared to most foreign lands. Sadly, that is rapidly changing. As we saw in the MPs’ expenses scandal, our politics isn’t as clean as we thought. Our elected representatives were out to grab every penny they could. The rot may have started at the top, but it smells increasingly musty at the bottom as well. Growing numbers of Britons are exaggerating their home insurance claims and don’t see anything wrong with it, according to new research from Axa.
The number of fraudulent claims leapt 17% in 2011. Around 200,000 customers added fraudulent extras to their claim, worth £607 on average. They can’t all have been MPs. It’s partly a male thing. Men are nearly twice as likely as women to have exaggerated a claim. And it’s also a London thing, because the capital generates most false claims, and the biggest. Insurance is seen as a soft target and more people are now willing to try their luck. The research showed that 12% of us would be more likely to consider making an exaggerated claim now three years ago.
Just as most MPs didn’t see anything wrong with fiddling their expenses (and many still don’t), less than half of us believe that exaggerating a claim is dishonest.
The survey asked people what type of behaviour they considered to be dishonest when making a claim. Nearly six out of 10 said it isn’t dishonest to say their windows or doors were shut at the time of a break-in, when in fact they had been left open. Incredibly, almost half see nothing wrong in submitting a receipt belonging to someone else, a blatant fiddle if ever I’ve seen one. And more than four out of 10 believe deliberately damaging an item to make a claim isn’t being dishonest either.
The definition of dishonesty has clearly changed since I was a boy, and for the worst. It looks like half of us have no qualms about committing fraud, providing the victim is an insurance company. Some people have always seen insurers as fair game. They feel they deserve something in return for their premiums. They know other people are trying it on as well. Many think insurance companies deserve everything they get. Most of all, they see it as a victimless crime. It isn’t, of course. We are all the victims, as exaggerated claims add up to £13 to every home insurance policy.
Insurance fraud isn’t risk-free either. If you’re caught, your entire claim could be turned down. You could also have trouble getting insurance in future.That clearly doesn’t deter people from trying it on, just as the danger of seeing their reputation publicly trashed didn’t stop MPs. Where our elected leaders go, we follow. Who said politicians don’t have much influence these days?
