75% of British adults believe that dishonesty is rife in today’s society, and 46% believe the UK has seen a significant shift in attitudes over the past decade, leading to a society that is more tolerant and accepting of dishonest behaviour, according to a new study by Norwich Union, the UK’s largest insurer.
The research reveals that despite people’s distaste at what they perceive to be an increasingly dishonest society, as many as 7% admit to committing fraud, and 43% say they would turn a blind eye to a friend’s or relative’s dishonest actions.
One in 10 people would exaggerate an insurance claim if they believed there was no chance of being caught out and 7% of the UK population admit to having actually committed at least one of the following: Falsely reporting a mobile phone as lost or stolen to get a free upgrade; exaggerating an insurance claim or concealing an accident record to get a low car insurance quotation.
The findings come as Channel 4’s Cutting Edge documentary, “Scams, Fiddles and Honest Claims”, goes behind the scenes with the “Insurance Investigators”. Filmed over two years with unprecedented access to Norwich Union’s Manchester-based Special Investigations Unit, the observational documentary follows both the fraud investigators and the human stories of the policyholders being investigated.
Norwich Union commissioned its “Honesty” study to examine attitudes and behaviours in today’s society and to help understand how and why insurance fraud is on the rise.
With as many as 10% of all insurance industry claims thought to be false, representing a cost of over 1.6 billion a year, fraud is having a significant impact on the cost of premiums. It is estimated that cheats push up the cost of insurance by nearly 40 for every average premium.
“The study shows that people think dishonesty has become widespread, which can make what they perceive to be ‘small’ acts of dishonesty justifiable and socially acceptable in their minds. Paradoxically, the perception that society is more dishonest than ever appears to influence individuals to participate in fraudulent or dishonest acts themselves, thereby directly contributing to an increase in fraud,” says Paul Kiff, a criminologist who worked on the research with Norwich Union.