48

News

National insurance register mooted to prevent fraud

Stephen Gadd
September 14th, 2018


This article is more than 6 years old.

Insurance companies are experiencing increasing numbers of fraudulent claims and would like to see something done about it

A new register is proposed to stop people making false insurance claims (photo: Blue Diamond Gallery/Nick Youngson)

Last year, insurance companies were hit by more than 3,200 false claims totalling a staggering 530 million kroner. The claims were for both personal insurance and also for goods and property, reports Finans.

To combat this trend, insurers want to set up a compulsory register containing all damages claims nationwide so that it is possible to cross-check claims to weed out fraudsters.

READ ALSO: Insurance companies considered fair game for rip-offs in Denmark

“When a customer reports a loss of some kind the company can quickly see what the person has claimed for,” said Hans Reymann-Carlsen, the deputy head of the insurance branch organisation Forsikring & Pension.

Pulling a fast one
“If a customer has had three cars stolen in two years with three different insurance companies, then any request for compensation would automatically hoist a red flag and the company would be able to examine the claim more closely,” added Reymann-Carlsen.

However, consumer bodies are wary of automatically registering customers. According to the data protection laws, such registration would require each individual giving permission.

Both Norway and Sweden already have such a register, and both Socialdemokratiet and Dansk Folkeparti have indicated a willingness to consider the idea.


Share

Most popular

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive The Daily Post

















Latest Podcast

A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”