Steer clear of ghost brokers selling fake car insurance

First, they find people to buy their fraudulent policies, usually vulnerable groups and young drivers.

The deals they offer are usually a lot cheaper than real policies, and they often advertise them on social media, forum and student message boards. 

Once they’ve tricked you into thinking they’re legitimate, they’ll use a combination of the methods below to make you think your car’s insured, even though it’s not. 

Create doctored documents 

Sometimes, these ghost brokers will sell fake insurance documents for policies which simply don’t exist.  

Lie about your details 

In some cases, they’ll buy a real policy from a genuine insurer for a cheaper price. But to do so, they’ll provide fake details, such as an incorrect address, date of birth or driving history, to secure lower premiums. 

To avoid being looked into too closely, they may also use a legitimate business address to take out a policy and then add you on as an additional driver. 

That’s why it’s important to check all your details carefully to make sure everything’s accurate – if anything’s wrong, you may not be covered. 

Use stolen bank details  

Fraudsters might buy several policies using stolen bank details and then sell these policies onto their victims. 

If you realise your policy is fake and can prove you’ve been a victim of fraud, we can help. You may be covered by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau too. 

But if you’re aware your policy’s fake and continue to drive your car without proper insurance, you could: 

• have no cover if you're involved in an accident ^{Footnote [1]}
• struggle to get covered in the future or end up paying more
• get a fine, points, or even a driving ban
• have your car taken away and crushed.

So how can you make sure you’ve got the insurance you need?

Worried you’ve been sold a fake policy? Here are three things you can do to check the policy you've been sold is legitimate: 

1. Check the broker you’ve used is licensed with the Financial Conduct Authority by visiting their website.
2. Make sure your insurer has your correct details on file by visiting the Motor Insurance Database website.
3. Speak to the insurer directly – not via the broker – to check your policy and its details

It’s important to be wary of cheap deals on social media. Remember, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Genuine brokers also wouldn’t usually contact you from their mobile number or via WhatsApp – so be suspicious of any that do.

Ghost brokers often use other people’s addresses to buy policies. If they’re using yours, it could impact you getting insurance, and even credit, in the future. 

That's why it’s important to check your post carefully to make sure it’s all addressed to you or someone else living there. And if you start getting insurance documents for someone who doesn’t live at your address, call the insurer in question and speak to their fraud department.

We’re seeing more and more ghost broking. In fact, it makes up 20% of all the fraud our Policy Fraud team are picking up. And we’ve found that approximately 8,000 policies a year are linked to ghost broking.

So what are we doing to protect you? 

We screen every motor policy at quote and sale stages to check for ghost broking activity. And if it’s clear you’ve been victim of ghost broking, we’ll try to get you sorted with real cover at the right price and deal with your claim. 

We have a team of experts dedicated to detecting fraud and protecting our customers. They speak to victims to gather evidence, support with referrals to the police and Report Fraud, and find ways to spot cases sooner.   

Not only that, we also work closely with the wider financial services industry and enforcement agencies to detect, disrupt, and prosecute these criminals together.

• Report it to Report Fraud by calling them on 0300 123 2040 or visit their website
• Contact the Insurance Fraud Bureau on 0800 422 0421 or head to their website
• If you think you’ve bought a fake insurance policy from us, you can report it to us below