Suspected insurance fraud, how to gain evidence?

MeldrewsMate

MeldrewsMate

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Some years ago (around 5) I made a mistake and put a screw through a customer's heating pipe. It leaked water and caused damage to their ceiling below and, they claimed, a fridge freezer and oak floor. It wasn't discovered until 12 hours later, the next morning, as the drip was into a converted garage used as a home office and drinks store; not part of the main house.
The news came through by text message as "help! we have a leak through the ceiling. What are your insurance details?" Yes, that really was the message.

To cut a long story short he claimed for the damage and more from me through the small claims court, and I didn't claim on my liability insurance because I felt that it would cost me more in the long run in premium loading.
5 years later I find, or rather suspect, that he has also claimed for the same repairs on his own home insurance. I consider this to be fraudulent, be it defrauding the insurance company or defrauding me, and I'd like to get to the bottom of it. I have found that there is an organisation called the Claims and Underwriter Exchange (CUE) which logs insurance claims for the purpose of detecting and combating insurance fraud.

My questions are:
1. Armed with his address and name, will the CUE tell me if a claim has been made on his household insurance?
2. Will they, as a second best option, act to prosecute his fraud and recover their monies, and
3. Will they inform me at any stage?
4. What might be my best approach to them?

Regards, MM
 
I susepct the insurance companies will have cooperated over the claim, covering the costs between them.
 
Did you end up having to pay out personally a large sum ? The court found against you ? My PLI has an excess of first £500 . Sounds like you were unlucky and maybe should have just let your insurance sort it . We all get set backs from time to time and wiser from the experience.
 
Roy Bloom said:
I susepct the insurance companies will have cooperated over the claim, covering the costs between them.
Click to expand...
Read the OP's post again. He paid for it out of his own pocket and suspects the owner has made another claim on his house insurance so there will be no cooperation between insurance companies as only one insurance company is involved.
 
Mottie said:
Read the OP's post again. He paid for it out of his own pocket and suspects the owner has made another claim on his house insurance so there will be no cooperation between insurance companies as only one insurance company is involved.
Click to expand...
Insurance companies are not daft. They're wise to potential fraud. And if they sniff a minute opportunity to not pay out they'll snatch it out of your hands.
 
Surely the loss adjustor would have visited to assess the damage, so the insurance claim must have happened when the damage did.

If that happened, then there is fraud.
 
its out and out theft no other word for it when you have a genuine claim its called somthing like unjust enrichment where you exceed the value your entitled to .to deliberately lie and put it on paper its called somthing like a false document that in certain circumstances make it a criminal matter
buuuuttt you need to be careful you need to prove the money for the same thing and documented as such like can they claim what you gave them was not for the actual damage but compensation for the inconvenience

also a personal point
have you ever pushed the boundery more than you should ?? not in a dont do it but a will it eat you up and not give you satisfaction and closure in the end ??
 
Contact your insurance which as I understand paid part of the claim, and tell them about your suspicions.
I don't think they'll do anything because once they close a claim they rarely (never?) Reopen it.
If you know which home insurance they had, it would help.
I don't understand why you had to pay out yourself.
That's why you have insurance, to avoid paying yourself for any damage.
Explain please.
 
Lets start with the basics.. based on your post can I conclude some facts:

- he sued you for the damages in the small claims court and won a judgement against you for his losses?
- You suspect that the basis of his claim was fraudulent because he had claimed on his insurance?
- The action was not brought against you on behalf of the Insurance?

If the above are Yes, then really getting him prosecuted for fraud, is of no benefit to you. What would be a benefit to you is getting his claim against you reversed due to litigation misconduct. Better still getting him to settle out of court to avoid the serious consequences
 
1) how much is involved? I don't know the cost of repairing an oak floor in a garage...
2) I doubt the claims centre would tell you about any claim made by a third party. You have nothing to use against your man.

Judging by the "Claimed and shamed" TV prog, plus what I gleaned from a couple of people, if you write to the claims centre they will eventually catch up with the case. But it probably won't be worth their while to push for repayment. It costs a lot. If there's any sort of court involved, the cost would overwhelm the claim I expect.
Ins cos ar rarely interested in prosecutions, even if they DO apply enough pressure get their money back. The perps get off with simple repayment only.

So in combination, a letter could be sent, but if it's challenged, the case will stop there. So they're likely to judge it's not even worth the letter.
 
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