Nine in ten attempted motor finance frauds were spotted in the
UK in Q2 2010, Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) figures have
shown.
The trade body for the UK’s asset and motor finance sectors said
that between April and June this year there were 2,585
fraud-related events involving motor finance.
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Of these, 2,361 suspected or attempted fraud cases were spotted
by combined efforts of the FLA, lenders’ investigating agents and
specialised police units. The figure is down from almost 2,500
attempted or suspected fraud cases in Q2 2009.
Only 224 cases were not spotted before credit was granted, the
FLA said. This is a 5% improvement on the same period one year
ago.
Of the fraud attempts which succeeded in the past 12 months, 44%
of the cars involved have been recovered by lenders.
Paul Harrison, head of motor finance at the FLA, said: “A
third of motor fraud cases involved customers selling their car
without settling their finance agreement in full. This is known as
conversion fraud and it has become a bigger problem during the
recession.”
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By GlobalDataThe FLA has been sponsoring the ACPO Vehicle Crime Intelligence
Service, a national police unit dedicated to investigating and
recovering fraudulently-obtained vehicles, since 2007.
The trade body has also been working in partnership with the
police on a Vehicle Recovery Scheme (VRS), to help finance
companies recover cars they own that have been driven illegally by
a finance customer and have ultimately been seized by the
police.
The scheme has led to £4 million worth of illegal vehicles being
taken off the UK’s roads in 12 months.
