Circumstances under which an insured may be found guilty of attempted insurance claim fraud

This article provides an in-depth analysis to explore the question of under what circumstances an insured may be found guilty of attempted insurance claim fraud. By the Fraud Act 2006 , the consummated insurance claim fraud is committed upon the insured submitting a fraudulent claim to the insurer, regardless of whether the insured has obtained insurance money. English law has now shifted in emphasis from the old result-based deception to the conduct-based fraud offence. Under the new fraud offence, the attempted insurance fraud offence still exists. The Criminal Attempts Act 1981 applies to indictable fraud crime. To find an attempted insurance fraud, the insured must have performed an act which is “more than merely preparatory to the commission of the crime” with the intent to defraud the insurer of insurance money. To judge where the line falls between acts of merely preparatory and the point of embarkation upon the commission of fraud offence depends upon the circumstances of the different types of insurance fraud. This article focuses its discussions on how to determine an attempted insurance fraud for three types of insurance fraud, i.e. self-inflicted loss, fabricated or fraudulently inflated loss and factually impossible attempted insurance fraud. This article sheds significant light on this unexplored theme of attempted insurance claim fraud in this important area of law.