Cutting Edge Investigates Insurance Claims
The second film in the Cutting Edge strand, Channel 4's flagship documentary series, enters the secret world of the insurance investigator with unprecedented access to the fraud team at Britain's biggest insurance company, Norwich Union. With big lies, little lies and hand-on-heart honesty, this observational documentary follows the stories behind the claims and asks: who is telling the truth?With one in 10 adults admitting to having made a fraudulent claim on a general insurance policy, such as home or motor insurance (source: ABI (Association of British Insurers) May, 2007), insurance companies are on their guard. From spilling paint on a worn out carpet (one of the top insurance frauds), to criminal gangs staging accidents on Britains roads, its the insurance investigators job to decide who is and who isnt, telling lies. The documentary reveals the sophisticated counter-fraud techniques that keep the insurers one step ahead of the fraudsters and goes out on the road with Special Investigators, like Andy Wood: "Fraud puts thirty pounds on the cost of every motor insurance policy. For me combating insurance fraud, it's almost a moral crusade - but not quite." Investigator Darren Hodgkinson enjoys his job: "You do get a buzz, I'm an ex police officer...and being in a chase and catching the baddie; it's the same thing. While investigating a thirteen thousand pound burglary claim, a cardboard tower of boxes and receipts are produced by the policyholder in the living room as proof that items on the list are genuine. But will that be proof enough for Darren?If just one item in a claim is found to be fraudulent then the insurance company has the right to throw the whole claim out. On a large claim this can have devastating consequences. One couple from Hull, who lost everything in the floods of 2007, stand accused by another insurance company of adding items to their forty thousand pound plus claim: "We've lost everything we've ever worked for and hand on heart we didn't do what we are accused of". They issue a bleak warning: "Don't throw any bills away, not for at least ten, fifteen years, keep everything, because this could happen to you, it really could, and I'd hate anyone to go through what we've been through."As this documentary reveals, telling the difference between truth, lies and somewhere in between can be a difficult business.