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Fraudulent motor insurance claims have soared by 70 per cent during the past three years, figures have shown.
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said its members uncovered 24,000 fraudulent car insurance claims worth pounds 260 million during 2007 - the equivalent of pounds 5 million every week.
Motor insurance is now the leading area for fraud, with dishonest motorists making bogus claims in a bid to make money quickly or clear debts.
Overall, insurers uncovered 91,000 fraudulent claims on motor, household, travel and liability insurance during 2007, collectively worth pounds 557 million, with motor insurance fraud accounting for nearly half of this.
The ABI said one policyholder had tried to claim on his insurance after saying his car was stolen.
But he later admitted he had pushed it over a cliff after it emerged that a local newspaper had carried a photograph of the wreck three days before the alleged theft took place.
The man said he had planned to use the insurance payout to meet his hire purchase repayments.
Another policyholder claimed her Land Rover had been damaged when it hit the front of her house after her foot slipped off the break.
But it later emerged that the damage had been caused deliberately when she repeatedly rammed it into the front of her property following a row with her partner.
The ABI said insurers were cracking down on fraud, which adds an average of pounds 40 a year to motor insurance premiums.
An ABI spokesman said: "When times are tough people look to raise money, and insurance fraud tends to rise.
"Insurers are on their guard in the current economic climate to weed out the cheats."
(c) 2008 Birmingham Post; Birmingham (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
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