Corrupt doctors accused of travel insurance fraud

Doctors and holidaymakers are costing insurers £6 million in false claims.

Travel Insurance News - 26/09/2011

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False claims on insurance have long been a problem in the travel insurance but it looks like an entire industry has developed to support holidaymakers filing fraudulent claims. According to reports based on an undercover investigation and published in the Sunday Times, some foreign doctors have helped travellers by selling them fake medical certificates.

The practice helps holidaymakers get huge sums of money from travel insurers. Insurers came across false claims worth £6 million in just the last year. Though many believe this to be a victimless crime, it inevitably results in everybody else having to pay increased premiums.

Even if false claims are discovered, insurers say they can be put off pursuing prosecutions by the time and money needed to carry out investigations. One investigator reported that doctors in medical officials in India had provided false certifications.

The certificates wrongly asserted that the reporter had received medical treatment for heart problems, dengue fever and a stomach problem during a holiday. The cost of death certificates can be as low as £800.

In once case, an ambulance owner agreed to provide a forged death certificate. Elsewhere, a fixer who puts westerners in touch with corrupt officials managed to provide a death certificate that appeared to have been stamped and signed by an official registrar.

John Saunders, who runs Linden Claims International, says his company is coming across about six such false cases every month in India. Over the last two decades, the Berkshire firm has uncovered 120 fake death certificates.

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