"Romance fraud typically evokes images of people being tricked out of their life savings by partners they meet on dating sites, but some scammers use a different tactic: recruiting unsuspecting victims into fake insurance claims. The scam involves a fraudster convincing their partner, or a person they are dating, either to say they have witnessed a car accident, or to take out an insurance policy and file a bogus claim in order to secure a payout."
"Nicola Smith, intelligence and investigation manager at the IFB, says this may be because the scam does not centre on directly exploiting the victim for money. The generic reason that it might be going under-reported is because of the shame around the situation, she says. But also this tactic is different in that the target isn't being hugely financially impacted. They're not being asked for money. They're being asked to use their identity."
Some scammers use romantic relationships to recruit partners into staged car crashes or to file bogus insurance claims. Fraudsters persuade dates to claim they witnessed accidents or to take out policies and submit fraudulent injury claims for payouts. The Insurance Fraud Bureau reports detected cases and warns that shame and lack of direct financial loss may lead victims not to report. Victims risk being placed on an insurance fraud register, facing difficulties obtaining future policies and credit effects. Convicted perpetrators have received prison sentences after organizing planned crashes. Targets are exploited for their identity, and participating constitutes committing fraud.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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