One in every thousand claims submitted to insurers involves fraud, according to figures published today by the Dutch Association of Insurers. In these cases, the claimants were quite creative:
1. The 2-year-old son
What do you do if your television is broken? Exactly: a claim on your home contents insurance. Especially if your picture tube cost 700 euros. But for that claim to be successful, the television must have really broken down, one woman found out.
She called the insurance company to report that her two-year-old son had thrown a remote control at the television. Unfortunately, she no longer had a receipt for the purchase. But of course she could send in photos from television. And so it happened. The woman sent the photos, the insurance received the photos. Nothing strange so far.
But when a claims handler took a closer look at the photos, something striking became apparent: the front of the television was from Toshiba, the back from Samsung. A second series of photos she sent also turned out to be incorrect. On it was the back of the Samsung picture tube. Additionally, two photos were attached of a smaller television in another room.
After some more research, it turned out that the photos came from Marktplaats. Those 700 euros? The woman could whistle for that. She did get a place in the External Referral Register – the joint warning system of the insurance sector.
2. Thousands of euros for a non-existent shed
A heavy storm often goes hand in hand with damage. A man who wanted to claim damage from the insurance company after such a storm also knew this. He was hit hard: his shed was damaged to the tune of thousands of euros, he claimed.
Yet there was something remarkable going on with that shed, the insurer discovered: through a software program that allows you to view buildings, no shed at all could be seen near the house. The man was given the opportunity to explain by post what happened, but the insurer did not trust it and decided to pay him a visit to inspect the damage. As it turned out, there was indeed no shed to be seen in the garden.
In short, says the Dutch Association of Insurers: he deliberately submitted a false claim to defraud the insurer of 7,000 euros. He didn’t get those euros. However, he now has a place in the central warning system of insurers and must reimburse the research costs incurred.
3. Serious injury, but still able to wash cars
A man was injured and disabled in a traffic accident. At least, that’s what he said himself. He wanted to hold the other party liable through insurance.
That accident had indeed occurred, says the Dutch Association of Insurers. But through a tipster, the insurer also found out that the man was not disabled at all.
Because while he claimed to the insurer, the UWV and the Social Insurance Bank that he could not work, with his ‘serious injury’ he was cleaning cars at a car wash company. That is why he did not receive the tens of thousands of euros he wanted to claim. The insurer has filed a report with the police.
4. Heavy rainfall? Yes, one day before the damage
Water damage due to heavy rainfall is of course annoying. And that is why an insured person reported water damage through their home contents insurance. The proof was provided with several photos.
During investigation, the insurer saw that the photos had been taken in the morning and that the insurance had coincidentally been taken out one day before the specified date of damage.
The insurer did not fully trust that and delved further into the matter. As it turned out, there had indeed been heavy precipitation, but one day before the insurance was taken out, according to data from the KNMI. The 2,000 euros she hoped to receive passed her by.
5. The vacuum cleaner hose
If you damage your television with your vacuum cleaner hose, you can try to take out your liability insurance. But you must have taken out that policy before you damage your television.
Yet a woman who damaged her television in this way took a chance. The effective date of the policy according to that person: June 8, 2023. The specified claim date is June 10, 2023.
What she had not thought about: the EXIF data of the photo – data that shows, among other things, when the photo was taken – can be read when you send a photo. And that data showed that the photo was taken on June 6, 2023.
In short: the insurance was taken out after the damage. The woman did not make it to the ‘warning list’, but she could look for another insurer. Naturally, she did not receive the 1,074 euros she claimed.
2023-11-02 17:08:25
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