New Garda insurance fraud unit

storker · 30-08-2021 8:58am #1

To be launched next month.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/fake-insurance-claims-can-be-reported-to-new-garda-unit-40800479.html

Main points:

The new Insurance Fraud Office will come under the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau.
People who lie under oath or on sworn affidavits can be prosecuted.
Ditto for legal or medical professions who have assisted.
Fraudulent claims can be reported by policyholder directly to the Gardaí independently of the insurance company.
Penalty up to 10 years in prison and €100,000 fine.

Great news and about bloody time

30-08-2021 9:09am

A few questions come to mind:

will the penalties and this initiative scare off all but the most determined serial fraudsters or indeed most fraudsters? I would hope so.

will the Gardai pursue all claims of fraud and commit to a prosecution - we’ll see but I can see them swamped for the first few years

will our insurance premiums fall as a result? What planet are you living on :D

coylemj · 30-08-2021 5:31pm

A false dawn if you ask me.

People who lie under oath or on sworn affidavits can be prosecuted.

If someone claims that he has a sore neck after a rear-ender, how do you prove that he's lying? The law with regard to perjury hasn't changed, so whats new?

Ditto for legal or medical professions who have assisted.

Unless the injuries involve broken bone(s) and/or cuts and bruises, in the majority of PI cases, the 'medical report' is simply an account of what the claimant told his GP or consultant. Most claims for soft tissue injuries (e.g. whiplash) involve no clinical backup i.e. the only medical 'evidence' is the plaintiff's story. So the doctors who get business from ambulance chasers are off the hook, it's completly risk-free and is money for jam.

From the Indo article:

The creation of the new unit is expected to be a massive deterrent to anyone considering making a fictitious or exaggerated claim.

Rubbish. This is an industry that is not going to pull down the shutters any time soon.

Dempo1 · 30-08-2021 6:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117824255#Comment_117824255

Tend to agree, have to laugh at any deterent mentioned in the same sentence as the insurance industry. Making an official complaint is one thing, the burden of proof another.

More nonsense I'm afraid added to the nonsense about premiums coming down.

hullaballoo · 31-08-2021 1:06pm

Tbh, I think this is great news in the sense that the insurance industry have shot themselves in the foot in a big way on this.

They have been continually shifting the goalposts around to justify the extraordinarily high premiums they are charging to cover their own poor business planning. Pointing the fingers at lawyers and fraudulent claims as if that was the reason for it.

Now because they've been probably a little bit more successful than they anticipated in terms of lobbying, the State has introduced massive reforms to mitigate the false "concerns" the insurance industry have been blaming for high premiums.

They have put themselves under massive pressure now to either reduce premiums in a meaningful way or admit the true reasons for high premiums is to make up for losses they generated themselves. I don't expect them to do either of these things btw, I think they will keep banging the same drum until no one listens to them any more because they cried wolf a few too many times.

New Garda insurance fraud unit

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