Settling UK Tourist's Fraudulent Stomachs, Mike Daly

Spain police identify 800 Britons suspected of making fake sickness claims and 77 law firms allegedly used by the tourists to file their complaints. Tip of the iceberg lettuce- claims management companies and law firms are given too much opportunity to defraud insurers, travel companies and hotels. But insurers could do more."A central claims database in the industry would also be the best way to give a good oversight of the culprits – whether CMCs, rogue doctors or fraudulent claimants – showing time and again, what they’ve claimed for, against whom and when.In addition, using software that can interrogate unstructured data – so, pdfs, emails, videos and so on – the sorts of document formats that will inevitably be used by say, a doctor to submit a sickness assessment, will be key for insurers to fully appreciate everything that is being submitted to support a claim. Effectively, it means the fraudulent claimant will have nowhere to hide.The other critical element is how insurers capture the information from a claim. Our online platform technology would be the perfect way to ensure the evidence supports the claim, through the claimant uploading imagery – text, video or photos – to include robust evidence such as the fact the claimant sought medical advice/diagnosis and the paperwork to go with this, rather than just sending a picture of their paracetamol!Sadly, we are all too aware of how aggressive CMCs are in their marketing to potential claimants and, as there are no fixed costs for Solicitors, as there are for motor claims, it is a profitable way for these companies to make money.The industry is pushing for fixed fees and it’s easy to understand why. However, without a ‘unite and fight’ approach, the insurance industry stands to pay out more claims, in support of a compensation culture that’s out of its control."Source: Jason Peto and Jason Claxton fraud and insurance experts 360Globalnet July 2017See "Don't stomach fraudulent travel insurance claims"See "Don't stomach fraudulent travel insurance claims"

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An ambulance emblazoned with the words "Claims Clinic" was last year pictured driving around Tenerife on Spain's Canary Islands, where more than one in three tourists is British. Spanish tourism officials say the problem has arisen because British consumer law does not require claimants to produce any medical evidence of illness, and claims can be filed up to three years after a stay at a hotel. Spain has stepped up its cooperation with Britain to halt the flood of fake claims which led British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to say earlier this year that the digestive "systems of British people" had "become the most delicate in the world".

http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/spain-identifies-800-britons-suspected-of-making-fake-sickness-claims/article/505563