UK insurers are being warned about a twist on romance fraud -- fraudsters using dating apps to recruit accomplices for bogus motor claims.
Instead of asking for money, the scammer persuades their partner, or someone they are dating, to say that they have witnessed a car accident, were a passenger in a collision, or to take out a policy and submit a fake claim. According to a report from The Guardian, fraud hinges on using the victim's identity to legitimise the loss, rather than drain their savings.
The Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), which acts as the UK market’s counter-fraud intelligence hub, said it has seen a number of these cases in the past year and believes many more incidents are likely going unreported.
In the dating-app variant, the scammer targets people they believe can be persuaded to be complicit in fraud, rather than those with substantial savings.
“You don’t have to have lots of money to be a target of this scam because all they need is your identity,” Nicola Smith, intelligence and investigation manager at the IFB, said. “What they want from you is your agreement to take part in a scam.”
Victims may be asked to say they witnessed an accident, to claim they were a passenger when a crash occurred, or to assert they were injured and then pursue a personal injury claim. Fraudsters often supply a ready-made script about what supposedly happened.
According to Smith, embarrassment and the fact that many targets do not see themselves as being "ripped off" may be masking the scale of the scam.
“The generic reason that it might be going under-reported is because of the shame around the situation,” she said. “But also this tactic is different in that the target isn’t being hugely financially impacted. They’re not being asked for money. They’re being asked to use their identity.”
In one recent case, a man who manipulated women he met on dating sites into taking part in staged crashes was jailed for 20 months at Bournemouth crown court. The man allegedly arranged low-speed collisions at pre-agreed locations and then coerces the women to file personal injury claims which were paid by insurers.
While some participants may feel they have “got something back” from the relationship in the form of a claim payment, the long-term impact can be severe. Those linked to fraudulent activity can be placed on the Insurance Fraud Register run by Cifas, the UK fraud-prevention service, where markers can remain for up to six years.
A Cifas marker can trigger refusals for future policies, higher premiums and extra checks across the wider credit market, with banks and other lenders routinely screening applicants against the National Fraud Database, according to the report.
“What you’re being targeted for is your identity,” Smith said. “And it’s really important to know that if you’re complicitly taking part in this, you are committing fraud along with them.”
The warning comes as identity-based insurance fraud climbs sharply. Research published in January by GBG found that insurance identity fraud in the UK has surged 211% since 2017, with cases rising from 4,215 to 13,108 in 2024 and the sector’s share of all identity fraud more than doubling over that period.
Motor lines remain at the sharp end. Association of British Insurers (ABI) figures showed UK insurers detected £1.16 billion of fraudulent general insurance claims in 2024, up 2% year on year, with motor accounting for 51,700 claims worth £576 million, or more than half of all detected claims fraud by number.
That sits alongside newer “crash for cash” tactics that are explicitly designed to harvest insurance and personal data. In one moped-based scam highlighted by the IFB, riders stage minor collisions, then pressure drivers into handing over photos of their insurance documents or driving licence – information later used to take out bogus policies and file false claims. More than 1,100 fraudulent policies were linked to such activity between summer 2024 and early 2025.
Meanwhile, the IFB urged anyone approached in this way to disengage and report the individual via the dating platform, the police and industry channels. Its Cheatline service allows members of the public and insurance staff to report suspected fraud confidentially online or by phone, with intelligence shared across insurers and law enforcement.
It also advised that if someone claims they need immediate help after an "accident," the safest response is to offer to contact the emergency services. If they refuse and instead press for specific statements to an insurer, that should be treated as a red flag and the relationship ended, the report said.
