Showing posts with label insurance fraud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insurance fraud. Show all posts

Thursday, February 23, 2012

FAKE INSURANCE CLAIMANTS CAUGHT WITH TROUSERS DOWN – LITERALLY

GADGET-COVER.COM
MOBILE PHONE & GADGET INSURANCE
PRESS RELEASE

February 22, 2012.

FAKE INSURANCE CLAIMANTS CAUGHT WITH TROUSERS DOWN – LITERALLY.

A naked bedroom raider and a trouser-removing prostitute who couldn’t be fought off one-handed by a youth carrying a takeaway are amongst dodgy and declined insurance claims made for lost or stolen mobile phones.

More and more fraudsters are being caught with their pants down as insurers tighten the belt on ever more creative bids to trouser cash from false or questionable mobile phone loss and theft claims.

Gadget-cover.com, which provides policies for resellers including many high street names, saw a near-doubling of insurance claims for lost or stolen mobile phones in January 2012 over January 2011, but it would have been higher still had new tougher checks not identified fake or suspicious claims.

Carmi Korine of www.gadget-cover.com, which is the biggest and longest-established insurer in the sector, said that two attempted claimants in particular were caught, literally, with their pants well and truly down.

“One attempted claim arose when a customer’s son went on holiday with a friend and his friend’s parents. The phone was alleged to have disappeared one night when, whilst they were all in bed, a naked guy came in to the parents’ room and got in the bed with them.

“The father then awoke and kicked the naked guy out of their room, but before leaving, the naked guy put on the customer’s son’s trousers, which were on the floor, and left – we weren’t given a clear explanation as to why his trousers were in his friend’s parents’ hotel room.

“The phone was said to be in the trousers which were taken by the naked guy. The parents did not think the incursion was strange, and carried on with their sleep. There was no sign of forced entry.

“The second incident is also alleged to have involved a loss of trousers. The claimant’s son was coming home from a takeaway shop. He said he walked into a back street in order to wait for a cab, which he had called for earlier.

“Whilst waiting for the cab in this back street, a woman, who he described as looking like a prostitute, walked up to him and began touching him and pulling down his trousers. The customer says her son tried to push the ‘prostitute’ away but was ineffective in his efforts as he was carrying his takeaway in one hand.

“The woman managed to pull his trousers all the way down to his ankles and, after a while, she left and he later realised his phone was no longer in his pocket. The customer’s son was so traumatised he did not leave his room for three days.”

In each case, and based on wider assessment of the submissions made, but withheld here to avoid identification, the claims were declined.

www.gadget-cover.com is part of London-based Supercover Insurance, which is the UK’s longest-established insurer of mobile phones and high-intrinsic-value consumer electronics. Launched in 1995, the company offers theft, loss and damage insurance, as well as up to 3GB gadget content backup, for laptops, PCs, satellite navigation equipment, MP3 players including iPods, and other such communication, storage and gaming equipment.

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Further information:

Iain Macauley
07788 978800

Thursday, January 12, 2012

WHIPLASH CLAIMS: THOUSANDS OF CARS ALREADY FITTED WITH THE TECH TO MEASURE LEVEL OF IMPACT

COVERBOX
PAY AS YOU DRIVE INSURANCE
PRESS RELEASE

January 12, 2012.

WHIPLASH CLAIMS: THOUSANDS OF CARS ALREADY FITTED WITH THE TECH TO MEASURE LEVEL OF IMPACT.
Technology which can measure the level of impact in traffic accidents – and help determine the likelihood of whiplash injuries – is already installed in thousands of vehicles insured by pay-as-you-drive telematics-based car insurers.
When insuring a vehicle, Coverbox, which pioneered the latest generation of telematics insurance technology, installs equipment which tracks every single movement of that vehicle.
Commenting on government plans to address fraudulent insurance claims for whiplash, Johan van de Merwe, Managing Director of pay-as-you-drive telematics-based car insurer Coverbox, said:
“When a driver takes out an insurance policy with a telematics insurer, we install a small box which records the distance the vehicle covers, and charge accordingly.
“But the equipment also records many more parameters – including acceleration, deceleration, speed, and so on - which helps us determine driving standards. But telematic insurers can also use the equipment to measure the magnitude of an impact which can serve as a very useful guide in distinguishing claims needing investigation from those where a high probability of whiplash exists.
“One of the reasons telematics insurance is always going to be more accurately priced – obviously to the benefit of careful drivers – is because we have that absolutely accurate information about driving behaviour, which allows us to be far more discerning in terms of who we insure.”
Coverbox pay-as-you-drive insurance allows drivers to take out comprehensive cover that is paid for by the mile, with the price per mile varying according to the time of the day or night: off-peak, peak or “super-peak” times.
Over-23s are charged according to rush hour (Mon to Fri 730am – 930am & 430pm to 600pm excluding public holidays) or off-peak use, but under-23s are also subject to a “super-peak” charging structure: Friday, Saturday and Sunday 1100pm to 500am, and public holidays 1100pm to 500am.
All Coverbox policyholders get free theft tracking – which would be at least £200 more on top of a traditional insurance policy – in addition they have a personal website which enables them to see precisely how many miles they are driving, and what the cost of those miles is.
The technology behind Coverbox is based on proven equipment specified by several major car makers, and means customers will also have the additional peace of mind of theft tracking: in virtually all cases, Coverbox can track and locate the car if it is stolen.

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Iain Macauley
07788 978800