A UK cash plan provider has reported a five-fold rise in the number of fraudulent claims since 2009.
Provider Medicash said typical fraudulent claims included customers altering and forging receipts and attempting to claim for people not covered by their policy.
Typical fraudulent claims included customers altering and forging receipts and attempting to claim for people not covered by their policy.
Marj Murphy, head of customer operations, said: "Our records reveal a sharp rise in the number of fraud cases over the past few years and it is evident that the sophistication of the fraudsters has noticeably increased over the same period.
"This is a very serious problem across the health insurance industry, which has noticeably increased in line with the economic downturn. Unfortunately, many people see insurance fraud as a victimless crime, which it is not."
Medicash has strengthened its systems and protocols to monitor and combat fraudulent activity in response.
All claims submitted to Medicash are manually examined and suspicious claims are referred to the firm's fraud team.
Murphy said the company worked with the Health Insurance Counter Fraud Group UK and under the Data Protection Act 1998 and shared information with other health insurance providers to support in thebattle against fraud.
