North-west remains hotbed of UK 'cash for crash' fraud

27/08/2010

The North-west is still the ‘cash for crash’ centre of the UK, despite Birmingham retaining its place at the top Insurance Fraud Bureau’s regional hotspot league table.

According to IFB figures released this week, North-west cities Liverpool, Blackburn, Manchester, Oldham and Bradford are in the top 10 for the second consecutive study.

In addition, there are three new entries in the top 20 hot spots, with Sheffield, Warrington and Leicester placing 11th, 14th and 17th respectively.

The quarterly figures also reveal that Bradford was the highest mover, surging from 14th in March 2010, to sixth in the current table.

The IFB announced the figures weeks after Burnley-based brothers Rezwan Javed and Rehan Javed were found guilty in their part of cash for crash scam, which is estimated to have cost the insurance industry £12m.

Glen Marr, the director of the IFB, said: “These are the first convictions where individuals from professional organisations â ‘professional enablers’ â known to be at the heart of crash for cash scams have been brought to justice.”

The IFB currently has 24 active joint police operations, with a combined value of approximately £41m, spread across 15 Police forces. Each operation represents an average value of £1.7m and on average 253 claims.

Original Article: Post