Ripping off insurance companies appears to be another one of the many ways that people made ends meet in the Czech Republic during 2020.
According to Česká podnikatelská pojišťovna (ČPP), 570 suspicious cases in 2020 were investigated equalling out to CZK 59 million, which is twice what they recorded the year before. It meant that every fifth claim that happened was suspected of fraud.
Dita Němečková from the Safety Department of ČPP’s safety department said that the bulk of these cases were liability and accident insurance fraud.
“Three-quarters of the cases we investigated were liability and accident insurance fraud. They’re usually fictional traffic accidents. We also get cases where the damage actually happened, but the person who’s injured tries to get compensation for an injury that happened way before, completely unrelated to the accident.”
ČPP’s findings are confirmed by Kooperativa pojišťovna, who also found twice the normal amount of insurance fraud. According to Zdeněk Macháček from the insurance company’s security department, more than CZK 124 million in fraud, up from CZK 56 million the year before. He also noticed an interesting trend.
“As in the past, motorcyclists cheated insurance companies the most when faking traffic accidents or exaggerating damages. However, it’s interesting to note that suspicious claims of cars being stolen as virtually stopped completely.”
Author: Alex Richardson