Why do people do it? That is, attempting to claim on their travel insurance for non-existant incidents. This has been highlighted by the case this year of the two British women, now languishing in Rio, convicted involving potential travel claim fraud and a recent insurance industry report citing that travellers to Spain and India are most likely to make a fraudulent claim on their travel insurance. Claims handling companies have become more fraud aware and are now primed to spot "telltale signs" of false claims, sometimes using voice monitoring equipment when dealing with individual claimants, to limit the widespread travel claim abuse.

But insurance fraud is on the rise with many customers pretending that possessions, such as expensive cameras and iPods, have been stolen overseas, while others are upping the value of what has been stolen in the case of genuine theft. As the losses are abroad and police overseas are often not interested in investigating, people can claim possessions have gone missing. Some travellers who realise that they cannot afford holidays booked earlier in the year are believed to be cancelling trips, after feigning illness and tricking doctors into issuing certificates stating that they are unwell. Most travel insurance policies offer cancellation refunds when a traveller falls ill before a trip.

Sadly, if someone commits fraud, it's honest customers who end up paying in the form of higher premiums. Despite the high profile case in Rio, there are few prosecutions as the facts of cases are often difficult to prove. However the sting in the tail for those that do try, then if the claim is rejected, that goes on their credit rating and it will make loans and insurance more expensive in the future.