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| Insurance cheats discover social media is the real pain in the neck | Insurance cheats discover social media is the real pain in the neck |
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| To come in seventh place in a field of 2,000 competitors in a 10km race is quite an achievement for any enthusiastic runner. So in the age of social media it was unsurprising that William Owen tweeted a picture of himself running said race in St Helens. | To come in seventh place in a field of 2,000 competitors in a 10km race is quite an achievement for any enthusiastic runner. So in the age of social media it was unsurprising that William Owen tweeted a picture of himself running said race in St Helens. |
| A few weeks later and the energetic 29-year-old tweeted that he had signed up for a half marathon, and shortly after came a picture of himself on top of Mount Snowdon. More remarkable than his athletic achievements, however, was the fact that a few months previous he had claimed to have suffered neck and back pain after a car reversed into his vehicle in a petrol forecourt. | |
| Insurer Aviva, whose customer had been involved in the accident, became suspicious when Owen did not seek medical attention for more than two months after the crash, and was then diagnosed with whiplash with a medical prognosis of nine months – during which time he ran the 10km race, was pictured on top of Snowdon, and worked three weeks in a row without a day off from his manual job. Unsurprisingly, Owen’s claim was dropped when his tweeted behaviour was presented to his solicitors. | |
| The case highlighted how insurers have added social media to their quiver of methods to spot fraudsters, using status updates, YouTube videos and links between lists of friends on Facebook to undermine made-up claims, often for personal injuries. | The case highlighted how insurers have added social media to their quiver of methods to spot fraudsters, using status updates, YouTube videos and links between lists of friends on Facebook to undermine made-up claims, often for personal injuries. |
| “This is an increasingly common situation, where we are able to use social media as part of our toolkit to be able to get rid of these claims,” says Catherine Burt, the national head of counter fraud at law firm DAC Beachcroft, which frequently works on personal injury cases for insurers. | “This is an increasingly common situation, where we are able to use social media as part of our toolkit to be able to get rid of these claims,” says Catherine Burt, the national head of counter fraud at law firm DAC Beachcroft, which frequently works on personal injury cases for insurers. |
| In the case of Owen, the runner’s claim was later found to be fundamentally dishonest by a judge and he was ordered to pay Aviva more than £9,000 in costs.The insurance giant’s head of fraud, Tom Gardiner, says that in a similar instance, a group from Newcastle were going to Edinburgh for a stag party when their minibus was involved in an accident shortly after departure. Six ambulances attended and 14 people filed for whiplash injuries, none of whom had baggage with them for their trip away. Although the driver of the car and occupants of the minibus claimed not to know each other, it was later found that they were friends on Facebook. “It was entirely staged,” says Gardiner. | |
| “People live their lives online a lot more. We use what is publicly available,” he said. Like other insurers, Aviva is using technological advances to help it search out fraudulent claims – among them is mapping out areas where suspect activity happens and sharing intelligence and data within the industry. | “People live their lives online a lot more. We use what is publicly available,” he said. Like other insurers, Aviva is using technological advances to help it search out fraudulent claims – among them is mapping out areas where suspect activity happens and sharing intelligence and data within the industry. |
| Kate Abrahams, head of intelligence at DAC Beachcroft, says the “desktop investigations” using social media can often be the first part of an inquiry. Profiles can be searched using telephone numbers and email addresses to circumvent if people use nicknames, she said, and computer search tools are used to scan profiles for relevant details. These probes are “justifiable and proportionate”, she said. | Kate Abrahams, head of intelligence at DAC Beachcroft, says the “desktop investigations” using social media can often be the first part of an inquiry. Profiles can be searched using telephone numbers and email addresses to circumvent if people use nicknames, she said, and computer search tools are used to scan profiles for relevant details. These probes are “justifiable and proportionate”, she said. |
| In one case, 36 people were on a bus which was involved in a crash, but claimed they were all there randomly. An analysis found that 32 of them were linked. Burt says: “The fact that they were all linked to each other just shows they were all there for a purpose. Sometimes you are trying to show that somebody could not be involved in an accident because they were not there at all, so you have an incidence where somebody says they were involved in an accident but Facebook shows they are holiday in Spain, or whatever, at the time.” | In one case, 36 people were on a bus which was involved in a crash, but claimed they were all there randomly. An analysis found that 32 of them were linked. Burt says: “The fact that they were all linked to each other just shows they were all there for a purpose. Sometimes you are trying to show that somebody could not be involved in an accident because they were not there at all, so you have an incidence where somebody says they were involved in an accident but Facebook shows they are holiday in Spain, or whatever, at the time.” |
| She adds: “We have had something where someone has said on Facebook ‘I am pleased my child was not in the car’ and then presents a claim for the child. It might be to prove someone was not there, to prove the accident did not happen, to prove that people who say they don’t know each other do know each other.” | She adds: “We have had something where someone has said on Facebook ‘I am pleased my child was not in the car’ and then presents a claim for the child. It might be to prove someone was not there, to prove the accident did not happen, to prove that people who say they don’t know each other do know each other.” |
| What insurers are looking for is a kink in a suspicious story, according to Mark Allen, the manager for fraud and financial crimes at the Association of British Insurers. | What insurers are looking for is a kink in a suspicious story, according to Mark Allen, the manager for fraud and financial crimes at the Association of British Insurers. |
| “What these can do is offer a real-time account of people’s activities. What insurers will do is look for discrepancies in stories, things that don’t add up … someone claiming for a back injury running in a marathon or the classic thing of claiming for a watch on holiday and then being pictured on Facebook wearing it,” he says. “Insurers are not snooping, they are not spying on anything private nor are they checking social media as a matter of course. However it is a useful tool in certain circumstances.” | “What these can do is offer a real-time account of people’s activities. What insurers will do is look for discrepancies in stories, things that don’t add up … someone claiming for a back injury running in a marathon or the classic thing of claiming for a watch on holiday and then being pictured on Facebook wearing it,” he says. “Insurers are not snooping, they are not spying on anything private nor are they checking social media as a matter of course. However it is a useful tool in certain circumstances.” |
| In many cases, evidence posted by people which then acts against their claim for compensation can be the silver bullet in detecting fraud. Burt says that previously courts had to decide on which witnesses to believe in a case. | In many cases, evidence posted by people which then acts against their claim for compensation can be the silver bullet in detecting fraud. Burt says that previously courts had to decide on which witnesses to believe in a case. |
| “I think it is hugely important because it is evidence that the claimant themselves can’t really argue against. In previous times when you have been trying to dispute liability, for example, or dispute persons’ injuries, you have actually got people giving evidence and the court had to listen to what people said, or at best look at photographs of things, and that was really all they had at their disposal,” she says. | “I think it is hugely important because it is evidence that the claimant themselves can’t really argue against. In previous times when you have been trying to dispute liability, for example, or dispute persons’ injuries, you have actually got people giving evidence and the court had to listen to what people said, or at best look at photographs of things, and that was really all they had at their disposal,” she says. |
| Facebook or Twitter … is in front of the judge and there is nothing the claimant can do to argue against it | Facebook or Twitter … is in front of the judge and there is nothing the claimant can do to argue against it |
| “The court would have to assess the evidence and make a decision on [whether] they like somebody’s evidence or somebody [else’s] evidence, but when you have something like Facebook or Twitter, it is incontrovertible. It is in front of the judge and there is nothing much that the claimant can do to argue against it.” | “The court would have to assess the evidence and make a decision on [whether] they like somebody’s evidence or somebody [else’s] evidence, but when you have something like Facebook or Twitter, it is incontrovertible. It is in front of the judge and there is nothing much that the claimant can do to argue against it.” |
| The extra tools for insurers to spot fraudsters come at a time when the industry says there is a sharp spike in the number of false claims. Gardiner says that while the number of road traffic accidents was down 30% between 2005 and 2011, the number of whiplash claims was up 65%. | The extra tools for insurers to spot fraudsters come at a time when the industry says there is a sharp spike in the number of false claims. Gardiner says that while the number of road traffic accidents was down 30% between 2005 and 2011, the number of whiplash claims was up 65%. |
| Whiplash is frequently seen as an easy injury to fake, with the average payout from an insurance company ranging from £1,500-£3,000. By the time the insurance company pays out for legal fees and the other costs involved, this figure can increase by five fold, according to Aviva. | Whiplash is frequently seen as an easy injury to fake, with the average payout from an insurance company ranging from £1,500-£3,000. By the time the insurance company pays out for legal fees and the other costs involved, this figure can increase by five fold, according to Aviva. |
| An emerging feature is that criminal gangs are using whiplash claims – some of which are from “forced” accidents where a crash is intentionally caused – as part of their overall earnings. Half of all false whiplash claims are now from gangs and half from opportunists, says Gardiner. One in nine whiplash claims are rejected. | An emerging feature is that criminal gangs are using whiplash claims – some of which are from “forced” accidents where a crash is intentionally caused – as part of their overall earnings. Half of all false whiplash claims are now from gangs and half from opportunists, says Gardiner. One in nine whiplash claims are rejected. |
| But surely at this stage, with so many highly publicised cases where people have been caught out by social media posts, opportunistic fraudsters are getting wise? No so, it would appear. | But surely at this stage, with so many highly publicised cases where people have been caught out by social media posts, opportunistic fraudsters are getting wise? No so, it would appear. |
| “I genuinely thought that after a while we would stop being able to use this because people would realise. But I think it is just an indication of today’s generation who are obsessed with sharing absolutely everything about their lives,” says Burt. “What people put on social media, some of it is absolutely banal in the extreme, but it seems to be the culture that we need to tell everybody what we are doing all of the time and boast about what we do. I think that instinct – particularly the chap who was seventh in a race of 2,000 - people just can’t help themselves.” | “I genuinely thought that after a while we would stop being able to use this because people would realise. But I think it is just an indication of today’s generation who are obsessed with sharing absolutely everything about their lives,” says Burt. “What people put on social media, some of it is absolutely banal in the extreme, but it seems to be the culture that we need to tell everybody what we are doing all of the time and boast about what we do. I think that instinct – particularly the chap who was seventh in a race of 2,000 - people just can’t help themselves.” |
| DRIVEN INTO AT THE DRIVE-IN | DRIVEN INTO AT THE DRIVE-IN |
| Social media has been the downfall of many attempted fraudsters: | Social media has been the downfall of many attempted fraudsters: |
| ■ Semi-pro footballer Gary Burnett said that he had suffered whiplash in a crash outside a McDonalds drive-thru in Birkenhead in October 2013. However, the next day he tweeted ‘Nice little trek to Kendal later for footy’ which led to insurers investigating and him being eventually found in contempt of court for making false statements in personal injury proceedings. Another tweet detailed how, less than three weeks after the accident, he scored a goal in an FA Trophy match. | |
| ■ A postman who claimed £23,500 in compensation after apparently being involved in a workplace accident was jailed when pictures emerged on a blog of him performing at a Malaysian music festival. Belangeni Musumbu signed off work and claimed he could not walk unaided, dress or drive following an accident in December 2010 when a car hit the back of the Royal Mail van he was unloading. He was then allowed to retire. He was jailed for 18 months on two counts of fraud. | ■ A postman who claimed £23,500 in compensation after apparently being involved in a workplace accident was jailed when pictures emerged on a blog of him performing at a Malaysian music festival. Belangeni Musumbu signed off work and claimed he could not walk unaided, dress or drive following an accident in December 2010 when a car hit the back of the Royal Mail van he was unloading. He was then allowed to retire. He was jailed for 18 months on two counts of fraud. |
| ■ Stephen Robinson of Caroline Cottages in Slatyford, Newcastle, claimed he had broken his ankle after putting his foot through a metal drain which had collapsed. A YouTube clip was later discovered which shows him injuring himself jumping into a flooded street. | ■ Stephen Robinson of Caroline Cottages in Slatyford, Newcastle, claimed he had broken his ankle after putting his foot through a metal drain which had collapsed. A YouTube clip was later discovered which shows him injuring himself jumping into a flooded street. |
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