Axa investigates 400 motor claims in anti-fraud effort

Axa has assembled a specialist anti-fraud team and begun investigating over 400 motor accident cases where fraudulent activity has been suspected, as part of a wider industry effort to curb so-called "crash for cash" scams.

The insurer's current casebook of these types of incidents would lead to payouts of around £9m if all the cases were valid, but past experience has suggested that many will be proven dishonest or grossly exaggerated.

Tim Hanman, deputy claims manager, non-marine, at Axa, which covers third party insurance of large commercial fleets, said while the fraud problem has received substantial publicity, all parties will need to raise their guard. "Fraud is rising in business, on the internet, in banking