What types of insurance fraud are there?

Insurance fraud comes in all shapes and sizes. Not all people who commit insurance fraud see themselves as fraudsters. After all, how bad is it if you make a quick change to your car insurance coverage before claiming? Or if you conceal the fact that your previous insurance was once cancelled by an insurer? Yet these are all forms of insurance fraud. In this article, we take a closer look at different types of insurance fraud.

What exactly is insurance fraud?

Insurance fraud is the intentional misleading of an insurer, where the fraudster's goal is to unfairly benefit himself. According to the Association of Insurers, most fraud occurs with auto insurance, household insurance and liability insurance.

Types of insurance fraud

There are different types of insurance fraud. You can commit insurance fraud before entering into an insurance contract, for example, by providing incorrect information to the insurer. You can also commit insurance fraud after entering into the insurance contract. We list some examples here:

Lying or concealing when applying for insurance

Insurance fraud when applying for insurance is common. Someone provides false information to increase the chances of acceptance. Before an insurer accepts an insurance application, it always asks a number of acceptance questions. Acceptance questions include:

• Have you ever had a driving disqualification?
• Has your insurance ever been cancelled or declined by another insurer?
• In the past eight years, have you come into contact with the police or justice system as a suspect?

If any of these questions are true, you must always answer "Yes. Therefore, if you do not answer the questions truthfully, you are committing insurance fraud.