NORWAY’S INSURERS FACE ESCALATING BILL FOR FRAUDULENT CLAIMS

Fraudulent insurance claims rose by 6% in Norway last year, and now cost insurers NKr1.6bn annually, according to figures from the country’s NFF insurers’ federation. The organisation calculated that fraudulent claims were costing each law-abiding policyholder between NKr600 and NKr800 in additional premiums. About 15% of the fraudulent claims related to travel insurance scams, the federation found. NFF managing director Ingvar Strom noted that “travel insurance companies are helpless when people come home from a holiday and claim that a camera worth NKr10,000 was stolen. The onus of financial burden is on them, and they must pay the claim”. Separate market research by NFF found that 40% of Norwegians between the ages of 15 and 30 had “no moral problems with fraudulent insurance claims”.