Drivers warned over new cold-calling insurance scam

Published 31 August 2018

The Association of British Insurers is warning the public about cold-callers pretending to be the ABI.

There are more than 750 personal injury claims management companies in the UK, making almost £200 million per year. But, since April 2017 the Claims Management Regulator has cancelled 69 licences, reflecting widespread poor practice in the sector.

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“Any cold callers saying they are connected with the ABI are cowboys trying to scam honest people into making a fake claim"

The ABI says it would never contact individuals about a personal injury claim. It has also said it does not endorse any claims management firms.

“Any cold callers saying they are connected with the ABI are cowboys trying to scam honest people into making a fake claim," said ABI spokesman Anthony Wright.

"If someone does contact you about a personal injury claim saying they work with the ABI, our advice is to just put the phone down. This is further evidence of why we need the Civil Liability Bill going through Parliament to fix the broken injury compensation system that these firms are exploiting," added Wright.

MPs are preparing to debate the Civil Liability Bill, which aims to simplify personal injury compensation and reduce legal costs in the system. The reforms include increasing the Small Claims Track Limit from £1000 to £5000 for road accident personal injury claims and developing a simple online process to register a claim.

The vast majority of people back these plans, with nearly nine in 10 saying that legal costs in the current system are too high, according to a survey commissioned by the ABI.

Have you experienced a nuisance call or text from a company? Report them to the Information Commissioner’s Office

Comments

oldroverboy. on 31 August 2018

I had a call from scammers once asking me for my bank details and declined. "we can't help you if won't identify yourself" So tell me my name,my address etc . they couldn't.

First Rule.
Do not identify yourself. do not give any information about yourself. they'll give up.

and if you have a modern smartphone (mobile or home) you can block the number calling you.

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BMW Enthusiast on 1 September 2018

Absolutely spot on.

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abbdoc on 3 September 2018

Yep, there are loads of scams going on just now.
The most widespread is the old "You've had an accident" I have come up with a fairly good response that goes along the lines of
" My goodness how did you know that I am a professional Stunt driver and this particular accident is the tenth one I've had this week" -After a confused pause from the caller they hang up
Laff I nearly sh**-Every time

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J McGirr on 3 September 2018

Registering your number with the Telephone Preference Service online does help reduce nuisance calls. When I do get the odd one I tell them the truth, that I am registered with the TPS and their phone call is actually illegal, they apologise and I don't hear from them again. Get very few of these calls now.

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E-Chen on 3 September 2018

I got a call telling me I'd had an accident. I hadn't but I went along with it.
"Oh yes, it was terrible. It was cold and sleeting. Visibility was really bad. A van failed to see us and hit the side of the car so we stopped. An articulated lorry swerved to miss a cat in the road and hit the back of our car at 65 miles an hour. Another lorry from the opposite direction missed seeing us too and that hit the front of the car. We all got killed."
There was a pause. The caller hung up................................

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