Cracking down on insurance fraud remains a top priority for the industry, as the latest data from the ABI reveals that insurers detected £1.34 billion worth of fraudulent claims in 2025, a 14% increase on the £1.18 billion detected the previous year.
While the number of detected fraudulent claims fell slightly to 93,900 cases, down 2.7% on 2024, the value of fraudulent activity continued to rise sharply – illustrating its growing scale and sophistication.
The average value of a fraudulent claim reached £14,300 last year – the second-highest level on record, just below the peak of £14,600 recorded in 2022.
Motor insurance remained the area where insurers identified the highest level of claims fraud, accounting for 55% of all detected cases. With 51,900 fraudulent motor claims worth £625 million uncovered during the year, the figures point to fewer but more costly cases, reflecting a shift towards higher severity fraud.1
Property insurance showed a similar year-on-year pattern. The number of detected fraudulent claims fell by 6.2% to 17,700, while their total value rose by 3.4% to £201 million – bringing the average value to a record high of £11,400.
Travel recorded the sharpest increase in volume. Detected cases rose 85% to 4,500, while value increased 16% to £8.6 million.
When looking at the types of fraud scammers attempted to commit, exaggerated loss remains the most common, with 26,900 cases identified. This is when someone deliberately attempts to increase the cost of a claim beyond its true value.
Contrived incident and loss fraud saw the largest increase, rising by 30% to around 5,600 cases. These scams involve fraudsters deliberately creating or staging incidents, losses or circumstances in order to make a claim.
Insurers also prevented fraudulent insurance applications worth £1.8 billion last year. Application fraud occurs when information is deliberately misrepresented or withheld in order to obtain insurance cover or reduce premiums. The total number of detected application fraud cases increased significantly, rising by 24% year-on-year.
Case studies of fraudsters exposed:
- A Claim That Didn't Stack Up (Property insurance) - A fraudster who submitted a series of false home insurance claims for supposedly stolen Lego sets was sentenced to 28 months' imprisonment after an investigation uncovered the claims were fabricated.
- Collision course with justice (crash for cash) - A fraudster who orchestrated staged motor collisions using women he met online was sentenced after running a deliberate "crash for cash" scheme designed to generate fraudulent insurance claims.
- Symptoms of deception (travel insurance) – Investigators uncovered a £300,000 travel insurance scam involving multiple fake identities, fabricated medical documents and websites submitted to support bogus medical emergency claims.
ENDS
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Footnotes
- The average value per detected motor fraud claim rose to £12,000, the second-highest level since 2015.
About us
The ABI is the definitive voice of the UK’s world-leading insurance and long-term savings industry, which is the largest sector in Europe and the third largest in the world.
We represent more than 300 firms within our membership including most household names and specialist providers, providing peace of mind to customers across the UK.
Our sector is productive, inclusive and essential to the UK economy and together, we are driving change to protect and build a thriving society.
Find out more at abi.org.uk
