Fraud

We understand that validating whiplash claims, and managing the cost of farmed, coerced and late notified claims, as well as reducing indemnity spend, can be a drain on resources.

By considering the route to market and identifying business models that can be resisted, a strategic approach to claims farming can guarantee savings and results.

Working for some of the best known insurers in the industry, we are recognised as market leaders in the identifying and disrupting farmed claims. With a dedicated and experienced team, we offer a bespoke, best-practice strategy to assist you in tackling fraudulent and farmed claims.

Our clients trust us to deliver measurable results in reducing indemnity spend and tackling farmed claims. Our reputation for disrupting claimant business models, assessing pre-litigation MI, assisting with criteria and strategy, as well as profiling, allows us to put in place bespoke, combined pre-litigated and litigated workflow processes. Using our unique Predictive Analytics we can identify cases and risks for you, advising on whether claims are valid or to be defended. We also specialise in costs recovery sanctions as well as delivering ongoing training to claims handlers and management.

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Whether sharing intelligence to combat and reduce fraud in your book of business or handling the complex levels of litigation involved in this field, peace of mind - and brand enhancement - comes from knowing that you have partnered with one of the leading Credit Hire Fraud teams.

With an expertise in cases where there are specific concerns relating to the Credit Hire element of a claim, we work hard to provide a complete risk management and fraud detection service, designed to reduce your overall legal and claims spend.

Our dedicated Credit Hire Fraud team has over 20 years’ experience of advising the financial services and insurance industries. What sets us apart is our commitment to understanding client needs and expectations. With professionals including ‘poachers turned game keepers’ from CHO’s and Claimant Solicitors, we maintain a market-leading position at the forefront of developments in this market place.

From phantom credit hire and repair organisations through to duplicate hirers, artificially exaggerated vehicle damage, sabotage, staged (and induced) incidents and organised credit hire and fraud rings, we combine expertise in predictive analytics, profiling and intelligence with strategic planning and expertise in telematics, to reduce your indemnity spend, increase fraud savings, and put fraudsters out of business.

DWF Forensic Engineering offers a quick, low-cost claim review to help you determine how to handle motor claims that may be potentially fraudulent, saving time and the cost of instructing independent forensic examinations.

How it works

Your claim will be reviewed by our in-house expert who is a reconstruction engineer and collision investigator. Certain types of motor claim can be evaluated to show, for example:

• Are there discrepancies between the parties’ accounts?
• Are the levels of damage consistent with the circumstances described?

Benefits

By instructing DWF Forensic Engineering on your motor insurance claims, you will receive:

• A cost-effective, early review on suspected motor fraud cases.
• An early, unbiased report from a highly experienced expert.
• A report that assists you in deciding the future handling strategy on a claim, for instance, in determining whether to pay for an independent forensic examination.

Cost

DWF Forensic Engineering is charged at a fixed fee of £125 (+ VAT)

This fixed-price review service covers:

• The reported circumstances.
• The engineers’ or assessors’ reports.
• The photographs.

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For businesses, the threat or employee fraud, supply chain irregularities and information theft are now high agenda risk issues due to the cost of responding and the loss often being so significant.

Our team of fraud specialists understand that once fraud is discovered it is essential for those affected and their professional advisers to react swiftly and effectively in order to minimise the losses and reputation impact they may have suffered. More importantly, our team recognise the cost of preventing fraud is far better than having to find a cure after the event.

Helping you prevent and react to the threat of fraud

The true cost of fraud is not just a quantifiable number. It includes the loss identified to have been caused by the fraud as well as the other costs such as penalties from regulators, the cost of an investigation and disciplinary process, the loss of shareholder value as well as the unquantifiable loss in terms of reputational damage and loss of trade. Our Fraud & Risk team have now developed Fraud Response to help counter and react to the events of fraud and save our clients money.

How can Fraud Response help your business?

• It gives you easy access to expert legal advice via our Fraud Helpline regarding concerns or advice needed relating to internal or external threats of fraud.
• Up to two bespoke in house training sessions (2 hours per session) on fraud prevention or issues relevant to areas of concern at client request.
• Annual review and advice on your counter fraud policies including your Fraud Prevention Plan, Fraud Reaction Plan and Anti Bribery Policy.
• Sector specific quarterly updates on sector fraud news and best practice.
• Clients subscribing to Fraud Response are eligible for discounted fees on all subsequent fraud related advice be it policy arrangements through to litigation advice

Costs

CIFAS (the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service) reported in November 2013 that the average cost of investigating a fraud of under £25k was £22,564, under £100k was £28,631 and for between £100k and £1m it was £39,733. Fraud Response can help reduce the risk of this potential immediate loss of investigation costs.

DWF Fraud Response is priced at a highly competitive rate of £750 plus VAT per month.

Please get in touch

Our Fraud teams are based across the country with subject matter experts specialising in all aspects of fraudulent claims, including road traffic and employer’s liability claims. We are able to offer a comprehensive and convenient training programme that will meet your needs. Please see below some ideas of the types of seminars/training we can provide.

Credit Hire and Fraud Awareness

This session will equip you with an understanding of the changes to the legal market and how these have impacted upon fraudulent cases such as LVIs, exaggerated claims, induced, contrived & staged accidents. There will be a particular focus on fraudulent credit hire, to include phantom credit hire companies and phantom hire.

Farmed Claims – Fighting Back

This session discusses routes to market, farmed or coerced claims and how to deal with them.

Fighting Fraud Economically

This session will provide an overview of the issues faced with fraud cases in the current climate and how to deal with them effectively and economically.

Fraud Indicators

This session looks at what they are, the signs and next steps.

Fraud Liability Claims

This session will consider fraud exposure in the context of EL and PL claims. It provides an awareness of the cost implications of fraudulent work and considers why volumes are increasing and how to deal with these cases.

Fraud Tactics – Using the Civil Procedure Rules to our advantage

This session looks at using the procedural rules to our advantage in fraud cases. It will consider how to put cases on the best footing, using the rules to narrow the issues and attempts to dispose of the claim.

Fundamental Dishonesty: QOCS & CJCA

This session equips you with an understanding of fundamental dishonesty and its relationship with QOCS, and the CJCA. We cover case law, practical examples and ‘at your desk’ tips.

Insurance Contracts and Indemnity

This session will equip you with an understanding of an insurers’ obligation including contractual, statutory, and European obligations and will also look at MIB liabilities. There will also be consideration of how to deal with indemnity issues in fraudulent claims and recent changes and trends.

Low Velocity Impact

This session will provide you with all you need to know about LVI cases. looking specifically at opposing ideas, evidence, the impact of recent legal changes and how best to run an LVI claim.

Noise Induced Hearing Loss Fraudulent Behaviours

This session looks at what fraud could look like in a deafness claim, including possible fraud typology, Fundamental Dishonest in NIHL cases, strategies to adopt, expert evidence and the use of Intelligence.

Sanctions – Pursuing the Fraudster

This session will look at both civil and criminal sanctions available in pursuing a fraudulent claimant. Case law, legislation and procedure will be considered.

Phantom Passengers – An Introduction

This session will provide you with all you need to know about phantom passengers, including what evidence is needed to successfully defend such claims, and how to obtain such evidence. We will look at case theory and bogus passenger defences and dealing with genuine claimants.

We know how important it is to be recognised as tough at combating fraud, across your book of business.

We’ll partner with you to make a tangible difference to front-end fraud detection - from underwriting through to claims, from inception to sanctions.

Our Fraud Intelligence Services underpin our award-winning National Counter Fraud Team. Offering access to intelligence systems developers, telematics experts, predictive analytics specialists and profiling business analysts, we are trusted by some of the best known names in the insurance sector to help them detect fraud at the earliest opportunity. 

What sets us apart is our commitment to delivering the best, most relevant solutions. Whether through our bespoke intelligence data system, d:cypher, or services ranging from intelligence sharing, fraud ring intelligence, management information, training, bespoke and proactive analysis, as well as case clinics and secondments, you’ll be partnering with one of the market-leading Counter Fraud Intelligence teams.

In a jurisdiction with no CPR, an advantageous costs regime, and a current tolerance for referral fees, we aim to use our intelligence, profiling and analytics to ensure our clients are ahead of the curve in tackling fraud in Scotland.

As an international firm, we understand the importance of providing tailored, locally-based expertise.  We’re the only legal supplier to offer a truly national UK insurance counter fraud team, making us uniquely placed to help Scottish insurers.

We offer a one stop shop fraud service covering your needs around detection, prevention and sanctions.  From specialist expertise in motor, EL/PL, large loss, commercial and financial fraud through to cross-class services including risk consultancy advice, fraud detection advice and toolkits, we can also assist with a full range of sanctions including financial recoveries, prosecution and PR management, as well as providing strategic advice and political lobbying services.

What sets us apart, however, is our commitment to understanding client requirements and aspirations, before working collaboratively with you to develop tailored, practical solutions. We are proud to have been recognised for our expertise. In 2017 we were awarded Intelligence Team of the Year at the Insurance Post Fraud Awards, (for work tracking the migration of organised fraud into Scotland) and in both 2017 and 2018 we received the Scott & Co Legal Innovation in Practice award (for the use of data analytics and intelligence, combined with profiling in handling Scottish fraud). We were also commended in the 2018 'Creating a New Standard' category in the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Report, for the work we have carried out in combating Scottish fraud.

We understand that maximising the recovery of outlay or costs, from third parties, and former policyholders, represents an opportunity to bolster the bottom line.

Acting for insurers in cases where there is a possibility of a third-party recovery being made from any made or intimated claim, our specialists are known for getting the best results from the most challenging recoveries cases.

Based across the DWF office network, we bring together a multi-disciplinary team, made up of insurance, recovery and cost lawyers. We take a collaborative approach, building a tailored team and working alongside insurer clients we use predictive analytics to establish prospects and to inform case plans.

We help you send a strong, strategy-defined message in combating and deterring motor fraud, whilst at the same time reducing indemnity spend.

In handling more than 2,500 motor fraud claims a year, our award-winning blended consultancy service goes beyond the usual counter fraud legal and intelligence resource, also bringing expert support in analytics, profiling and telematics, as well as the study of automotive and financial risks.

Dedicated lawyers work in injury validation, credit hire fraud, rogue rehabilitation, complex motor claims, telematics, LSI and farmed claims. Coupled with legal, intelligence and consultancy fraud, our innovative, commercially-relevant approach positions us at the forefront of the industry.

With an economic downturn and technological advances, insurers have come under increasing threat from organised fraud. Costing the insurance industry more than £340m per year, it stands to reason you need a legal team with a track record for success.

What we do

We’re proud of our high success rate for combating organised insurance fraud.  With a 80% kick out rate and 85% trial success rate, we’re recognised as one of the leading specialist teams working in this field.

Working as a dedicated unit within our Counter Fraud team, we have organised fraud specialists, including business analysts, intelligence analysts and lawyers, delivering market leading intelligence and legal strategies, pre and post litigation. We are experts in dealing with group litigation, ensuring cases are linked and that they follow one combined civil or criminal strategy.

How we do it

We act for some of the largest and most recognised insurance companies. Our clients trust us to be ahead of the curve in terms of expertise and the provision of advanced analytics – designed to help you combat fraud and reduce your loss ratio. Working collaboratively we’re known for our commitment to understanding your requirements, as well as for taking the time to develop lasting, strategically relevant solutions to combating fraudulent networks.

With increasing treatment prices, as a result of improvements in technology and veterinary treatments, combined with limited insurer data and industry-trend cross-referencing, it is little wonder Pet Insurance Fraud has risen 400% over the past four years.

DWF offers a unique, multi-disciplinary approach to fighting Pet Insurance Fraud - whether advising on claims for bogus and fictional pets, fictitious claims, pet pedigree fraud, incorrect treatment or over-servicing, drugs fraud, impersonation of a vet or covering up pre-existing conditions.

We stand out for our commitment to innovation, as well as our nationally-recognised pre and post litigation legal expertise. In particular our Pet Insurance Fraud experts draw in bespoke technology solutions and specialists including:

• DWF 360 - our technology offering - reduces risk and exposure to fraud through the provision of a cloud-based, configurable platform designed to identify opportunistic and organised fraud, as well as incorporating data washing and screening.
• Working alongside this, DWF’s predictive and profiling analysts work with your data to identify fraud trends, including problem customers, links between parties, unusually high costs and high-risk fraud alerts.
• DWF’s Intelligence Team provides due diligence services, including washing data to identify and report on red/amber/green fraud alerts, profiling individuals and entities, as well as screening for multiple policies at the same address and links between entities.
• DWF's Recovery Team will provide advice on prospects of recovery on a risk and reward basis.

In a challenging and rapidly changing claims environment, data derived from telematics systems can help deliver substantial savings, when applied correctly.

We are in the unique position of having developed substantial legal and consultancy expertise across a broad range of telematics issues, over several years. From advising on data protection and disclosure issues to utilising the data within claims and litigation, we can help you to leverage the power of telematics data to improve and drive claims performance, as well as to save costs.

We can provide advice on the different types of data available (and the relevance of each type to the claims process), interpreting GPS data, accelerometer data and crash alerts, and how to use telematics to prevent claims from happening in the first place.

In addition, we can advise on the accuracy of data and how to spot and deal with anomalies, the ethical and compliant handling of data, and how it can help deliver measurable efficiency and claims costs savings.