Banking and Insurance Fraud
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Bank Fraud
Banking fraud is often referred to as a white-collar crime. Types of offending behaviour include payment card and bank account fraud. Bank card fraud, involving the use of payment cards and bank accounts, includes use of another person’s card, cloning another person’s card, taking over or sending instructions relating to another person’s bank or card account, and use of another person’s cheque.
Over recent years, scams have become more intelligent and much harder to spot due to the rise of online banking. As a result, online banking scams are rife.
Your bank should attempt to refund you for any stolen money as soon as possible, but if they suspect that you are committing fraud or have been negligent (i.e. telling someone your PIN), you would have to take the fraudster to court to claim your money back. Whether you have been targeted by bank fraud or if you are being investigated for it, it is always best to hire a bank fraud lawyer to protect yourself.
Insurance Fraud
Insurance fraud can take many different forms, but in its most basic form, insurance fraud involves fraudulent claims by or against an insured person in order to elicit money from them. Some examples include:
- Motor insurance fraud and ‘crash for cash’
This is a form of scam wherein a road traffic collision is deliberately caused or fabricated to claim against the insurance. There are three main forms of crash for cash incidents – staged, induced, or ghost claims.
– A staged incident could be a crash orchestrated between two people who are both involved in the scam or mimicking damage from a legitimate crash.
– An induced incident is one of the more well-known forms of crash for cash – targeting an innocent driver and creating a situation where they are the ‘at fault’ driver. This is often achieved by braking suddenly in front of another car to cause the driver to crash into the back of the fraudster or flashing their lights to encourage a driver to pull out and then crashing into them.
– A ghost claim is entirely fabricated and sent through to the insurance provider for financial gain.
- Home insurance fraud
This can involve anything from staging a burglary, exaggerating claims when faced with a legitimate loss, making false claims or damaging your own property to claim the insurance money from it.
- Ghost brokers
These are people who either buy and doctor legitimate insurance policies or create entirely false ones and then offer them to the unsuspecting public as a great deal. Those who buy their insurance from a ghost broker are essentially not insured and may face penalties.
- Supplier fraud
This is where any kind of supplier (such as builders, motor repairers or other tradespeople), who an insurer has engaged to repair insured property, charges for work they have not completed or inflates the cost of their work.
An insurance fraud lawyer can help you defend your best interests if the claim goes to court.
Obtaining Credit Through Fraud
Obtaining credit through fraud includes the illegitimate acquisition of:
- Mortgages
- Loans
- Interest-free credit
- In-store credit
- Goods or services on a ‘buy now pay later’ basis
- Car finance
- Credit cards
- Store cards
- Bank accounts
Sometimes this is done using false information, but if it is done using another person’s name and personal information, this is identity theft and can carry heavy penalties.
Find a Banking and Insurance Fraud Lawyer
In direct relation to banking and insurance fraud, the principle offences likely to be used to prosecute are fraud under the Fraud Act (2006), section 1, and false accounting contrary to the Theft Act (1968), section 17. According to the Fraud Act, the maximum penalty for certain fraud offences is ten years imprisonment.
Contact a bank fraud lawyer at St Pauls Chambers for legal advice and strategy guidance on all aspects of financial crime, including banking and insurance fraud. Our barristers are highly experienced, offering guidance and advice for all banking and insurance fraud law areas.
