How lying Australian travellers are being caught out by insurance companies

A SURPRISING number of Australians are getting busted in their hunt for easy money. We should all know better.

Australians have been busted submitting fake, and flawed, insurance claims.

IN CASE you didn’t already know, lying to an insurance company is a bad idea.

Before you say “d’uh”, it turns out that some Australian travellers have learnt this lesson the hard way after being busted trying to make a quick buck by submitting fake claims.

That’s right, Southern Cross Travel Insurance (SCTI) has lifted the lid for news.com.au on some of the most outrageous and memorable dodgy claims they’re ever received. And there are some doozies.

“We receive up to 1300 claims a week and see all kinds of attempts to exaggerate the truth,” Craig Morrison, CEO of Southern Cross Travel Insurance said.

“Everything from implausible accounts of theft and unlikely items added to a genuine claim, to completely fabricated claims, including false testimony and fabricated documents. We’ve seen it all!”

Here are some highlights that make us wonder, what were they thinking?

• A customer submitted a claim for a watch, but metadata on one of the photos he supplied of the item showed it was taken after the alleged loss — so he was still in possession of it. Whoops.

• Another Australian claimed for the theft of her iPhone, despite information from police showing that she had already gotten it back.

• A traveller claimed the boot of their vehicle had been broken into while they were at a park, with items such as a laptop, sunglasses, clothing and money stolen. They claimed the boot had since been repaired. However, private investigators contacted the company who supposedly completed the repair but found no record of the vehicle being worked on.

Nice try ...

• A hotel guest reported having $36,000 worth of designer shoes and bags, jewellery, SLR cameras and Apple laptops stolen from their room. They provided a document they claimed was from the hotel manager confirming the theft. That manager, however, said the letter was forged.

• A family reported to have two iPads, SLR camera equipment, clothing and luggage worth $13,000 stolen by a taxi driver. They provided a letter from their hotel manager and a police report, but both documents were found to be fabricated.

• A traveller reported having their bag containing an Apple laptop stolen. When asked for proof of ownership, he admitted to having bought the laptop from a “shady” friend who couldn’t prove that they owned it either. The claim was denied due to their failure to get any receipt or proof of ownership.

Something’s not right here.

• A man described the circumstances surrounding a theft in his claim form, but when SCTI listened to the call he’d made to their emergency line after the event happened they discovered it was a completely different story.

• Another not-so-clever traveller declined having claimed anywhere else, but it turns out that he had submitted an identical claim with another insurer. Double dipping, anyone?

• A customer claimed for a camera — but the trouble was that SCTI had already paid out on that exact same camera a few years earlier.

So be warned, the insurance companies do check that what you’re saying is true!