Insurance Business is no stranger to fraudulent insurance claims – from a supposedly bedbound claimant who was seen bungee jumping on telly, to a stripper who claimed he couldn’t gain employment because of back pain but could bend over while dancing. This time here’s a fundamentally dishonest claim by a man who said he was unable to work following a car accident but was found zipwiring and hanging upside down while overseas.
Lakenham-based coach driver Ferenc Kirinovits (shown above in one of the social media images presented to the Norwich County Court as evidence and therefore in the public domain) tried to claim £22,000 for his injuries and lost income after a car he was driving in 2016 was hit by a vehicle insured by AXA UK. Law firm Clyde & Co, which represented the insurer, said in an emailed release that AXA UK did not dispute liability but doubted the severity of Kirinovits’s claim.
“At a medical examination in September 2017, Mr Kirinovits alleged that whiplash injuries and prolapsed discs in his spine meant he had been unable to work for three months; was unable to start a new job; could not clean, garden, or attend the gym; and was unable to swim or play football,” noted Clyde & Co, whose investigators found the claimant’s holiday posts on Facebook.
“Mr Kirinovits also attended a private spinal assessment and underwent an MRI scan in Budapest; this report recommended that he undergo surgery to his neck, which he did in 2019… Posts and photographs showed [him and his wife] on holiday in Mexico in February 2019, six months before his surgery. Video footage and photographs showed that the holiday was clearly active and adventurous with Mr Kirinovits climbing ladders and ropes, riding a quad bike, using a zipwire, jumping off a cliff into a river and swimming.”
The claimant defended the posts in court in February by saying he had been told he might not be able to engage in sports after surgery and did the above in case it was the last time he could.
“District Judge Jacqueline Raggett accepted that while Mr Kirinovits could have been injured in the accident and had undergone surgery, he could not prove that his disc prolapse or resulting surgery were caused by the accident,” said Clyde & Co. “Judge Raggett further ruled that Mr Kirinovits’s claim was fundamentally dishonest under Section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act. As such, AXA UK is entitled to recover their legal costs, which are estimated to be in the region of £12,000.”
AXA UK commercial claims director Chris Walsh described insurance fraud as a serious crime that results in higher premiums for honest customers amid increased costs for insurers.
He stated: “AXA UK is committed to pursuing fraudulent cases to ensure we can protect our customers. A finding of fundamental dishonesty in this case shows the importance of investigation and expertise in fighting against fraud.”
Meanwhile Clyde & CO partner Damian Rourke had this to say: “Trying to fake injuries over a prolonged period is much more difficult in today’s connected world. With so much social media, CCTV, and the ability to easily take surveillance footage, our investigators have a rich seam of evidence to disprove fraudulently exaggerated accounts like that made by Mr Kirinovits.
“It’s important to realise that, had he been successful, Mr Kirinovits’s crime would not have been victimless. Honest motorists around the country would ultimately have paid the cost of his fraud in more expensive car insurance premiums.”
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