Car insurance fraud: UK 'crash for cash' hotspots revealed
Barking and Dagenham has been revealed to be the UK’s biggest hotspot for reports of motor insurance fraud
The UK’s motor insurance fraud hotspots have been revealed. A new study shines a light on which postcodes are most rife with cases of so-called ‘crash for cash’ and identity theft following reports that almost £600 million worth of fraudulent motor insurance claims were made in 2024.
Conducted by the UK’s Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), the research project uncovered Barking and Dagenham (RM9) as not only the biggest hotspot in England, but also in the UK as a whole for reports of insurance fraud. Crieff (PH5) took the dishonourable top spot for Scotland, with Cemaes Bay (LL67) and Crumlin (BT29) being the epicenters for motor insurance fraud in Wales and Northern Ireland, respectively.
Nevertheless, it’s hard to ignore the prevalence of certain cities within the IFB’s list; Birmingham appears 13 times in the top 30 hotspots in England, for example, while Bradford appears four times in the top 10. Glasgow crops up a staggering six times in the top 10 hotspots in Scotland, while Belfast appears four times in the top 10 areas in Northern Ireland.
Head of the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department at City of London Police, Nik Jethwa, explained: “This latest update from the IFB shows fraudulent insurance claims are rising, with reports at an all-time high.”
Throughout 2025, almost 30,000 public reports of potential motor insurance fraud were submitted to the IFB’s CheatLine reporting service. This is perhaps no surprise given that, in November, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) reported £576 million in fraudulent motor insurance claims – a five per cent rise year-on-year overall, with domestic (personal) policy fraud rising by nine per cent.
The ABI’s head of fraud and financial crime, Mark Allen, said: “Insurers are stepping up intelligence‑sharing and deploying new tools to identify and stop scams before they cause harm. We urge the public to stay vigilant and report anything suspicious, because every report helps us protect communities and hold criminals to account.”
Some of the most popular types of motor insurance fraud include ‘crash for cash’ techniques such as roundabout traps and side road set-ups. Both of these tricks involve forcing a collision by hitting another vehicle that already has the right of way, or suddenly braking all in the name of claiming injury compensation against the innocent party.
Many criminals also have turned towards identity theft in order to make fraudulent claims; the IFB says many fraudsters take details from driving test pass certificates posted on social media, or responses to fake job ads in order to put through claims in someone else’s name.
In March, the UK Government announced its new Fraud Strategy which, according to Fraud Minister Lord David Hanson, “sets out how we will use every tool at our disposal to dismantle criminal operations, bring fraudsters to justice and strengthen protections for victims”.
The Government and police will utilise AI to scan for and identify potential insurance scams, such as ghost broking and paid-ad spoofing to tackle the issue at the source. A new ‘Report Fraud’ service will also replace Action Fraud, providing a portal where people can track their fraud claim in real time. The latter is set to be up and running by the middle of this year, whilst new Ofcom rules to enforce against unscrupulous social media ads will be introduced at the beginning of 2027.
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