Cambs residents invent burglaries in insurance scams
PEOPLE trying to make money in the recession are inventing burglaries to try to claim money on insurance. An increase in people contacting the police about bogus burglaries has been reported by Cambridgeshire Police. Chief Constable, Julie Spence said tod
PEOPLE trying to make money in the recession are inventing burglaries to try to claim money on insurance.
An increase in people contacting the police about bogus burglaries has been reported by Cambridgeshire Police.
Chief Constable Julie Spence said today (Wednesday) that this was one of the "twists of the economic recession".
Mrs Spence said people hoping to claim insurance reported fake crimes to the police hoping that they would be given a crime number to pass on to their insurance company - but that the police would take no further action.
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It is standard practice that insurance companies will pay out only after a crime has been reported to the police.
But she added: "We investigate every burglary. That is our policy. The problem is that it takes as long an investigation to prove that a crime didn't happen as it does to prove that one did happen. We have had 10 cases in recent months, when in past years the rate would be minimal. This is an emerging trend but the public should know that people who give false reports will be prosecuted."
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Asked if people thought they would get away with false claims because the police had a reputation for being too busy to send officers to investigate in person, Mrs Spence said: "We are moving back to attending scenes of crime.
