The problem of fraudsters staging crashes is spreading. So says a newly published analysis of suspicious claims referred to solicitors Keoghs during the past 12 months.
Plotting such cases geographically, the law firm has discerned a gradual overspill of fraudulent collision claims from known hotspots into neighbouring towns.
Keogh’s 2009 Motor Fraud Index shows nine towns bordering the UK’s top 10 motor fraud hotspots turning into problem zones themselves over the past year.
New entrants in the fraudulent claims premier league include: Huddersfield, Sheffield, Chester, South East London, Stoke-on-Trent, Leicester, Stockport, Wolverhampton and Romford.
Using their skill and judgement, Bankstone News readers will doubtless be able to match these overspill zones to their respective sponsor locations: Bradford, Birmingham, Blackburn, Liverpool, Oldham, Manchester, Bolton, Southall and Huddersfield.
Keoghs attributes this leaching effect’ to insurers’ success in combatting fraud in the known hotspots.
Keogh’s head of counter fraud strategy James Heath ‚ clearly a man in no hurry to express himself succinctly ‚ comments, “Our Motor Fraud Index clearly shows that the regions with the highest levels of suspicious claims activity in the past are still plagued by the problem ‚ with only one of the top ten worst affected towns changing in the past year.
“While there is clearly still a hard core of motor fraud hot spots that continue to suffer from a high level of fraud,” he ploughs on ponderously, beginning to flounder grammatically, “our latest study demonstrates that fraudsters may now be seeking softer targets in neighbouring towns.”
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