Bob Graham, Executive Editor

The British say more motorists are using fraudulent insurance claims to free themselves from debt in a trend likely to hit the United States next.

In the United Kingdom, the number “dishonest claims” has risen 70 percent over the last three years, according to an article in the Telegraph newspaper. In just the last year, the Association of British Insurers reports the uncovering of 24,000 fraudulent claims worth about $512 million (USD). The newspaper says the industry “believes that the sudden surge in claims is a product of a deepening economic gloom.”

That’s troubling since we on this side of the Atlantic Ocean seem to be mired in growing economic gloom, brought on by gasoline prices, rising food costs and the need for more people to take - I hate this non-word - “staycations.”

It’s not hard to imagine people stuck paying and feeding the tank on a gas-hungry Escalade, Avalanche and Suburban exploring the possibility of faking an accident to get free of the debt on the car. Or taking the value of the car in a fake claim to pay off outstanding credit card bills.

Insurance fraud is rampant. There is no limit to the range of people (a pastor in Virginia just got nailed) and approaches to beating the insurance system. (Just check out our On the Record page for some examples.) Unfortunately, the drain fraud puts on insurance companies is just an expense to be passed on to its policyholders. So economic gloom leading to insurance fraud will just beget will lead to more economic gloom and more fraud- and the cycle isn’t likely to be broken anytime soon. There or here.