Nearly a Third of Brits Think it's Acceptable to Commit Home Insurance Fraud, Report Legal & General

KINGSWOOD, England, January 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- A New Report Shows a Worrying Consumer Attitude to Home Insurance Fraud

A new report produced by Legal & General has revealed that almost a third of Brits* believe that it's acceptable to commit home insurance (http://www.legalandgeneral.com/insurance/home-insurance/) fraud. The research carried out for the FraudStoppers Report identified that nearly a third of Brits (29%) think that it's acceptable to exaggerate a house insurance claim, for example by adding extra items or increasing the value of the amount being claimed.

According to figures provided by the Association of British Insurers, insurance fraud costs every household insurance policyholder an extra GBP44 a year on their premium**. Last year, over 2,000 dishonest insurance claims worth more than GBP16 million were detected every week across the industry**.

The report has found that a key reason for people to commit home contents insurance ( http://www.legalandgeneral.com/insurance/home-insurance/contents-insurance/) fraud is the need to keep up with the latest gadgets and technology***. This "up-raiding", trying to commit fraud simply to get the latest technology, is a trend which home insurance providers are aware of and they are already catching potential fraudsters out.

Steve Phillips, Head of Fraud Services, at Legal & General's general insurance business, said: "The vast majority of us do understand that insurance fraud is equivalent to robbing other policyholders, but there appears to be a worrying number of people who are willing to make an inflated claim in order to get the latest gadget. This is committing fraud and is illegal."

"Although Legal & General has a zero-tolerance policy on fraud we do pay all genuine claims and have made huge efforts to make the claims process as smooth as possible for our customers."

If you are aware of someone who may attempt or who is attempting to commit insurance fraud, you can ring the confidential and free Fraud Cheatline on +0800 328 2550. Your call could help to reduce the financial impact of fraud for us all.

Notes for editors

The FraudStoppers report is now available to download. ( http://www.legalandgeneral.com/_resources/pdfs/insurance/Fraudstoppers.pdf) You can also get a home insurance quote or find out more about our home insurance products here http://www.legalandgeneral.com/insurance/home-insurance/.

* & *** Research Methodology

Opinion Matters, an independent pan-European market research agency, conducted the research between 3 and 7 November 2010. A total of 1099 members of the public were polled across the country.

** http://www.abi.org.uk/Media/Releases/2010/12/Home_cheat_home_.aspx