An unpublished government report has shown the extent to which insurance companies are using private investigators to get data on members of the public.
According to an exclusive from the Independent, “blagging” techniques have been used for over a decade to get valuable private information from potential customers that could help better measure the liability of a client.
Personal data has allegedly been obtained from the National Health Service, Royal Mail, banks, utility companies, credit card firms, local councils, Social Security and the government Department of Customs and Excise.
This could have huge ramifications for the insurance industry and may even result in a referral to the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) of the Metropolitan Police Force.
Keith Vaz, who is the chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, told the Independent: “We need to make sure Soca and the Metropolitan Police should be able to follow the evidence wherever it leads … to uncover the truth about what has been happening.”
Mr Vaz added insurers need to come clean about their practices before the police find out and it becomes too late to mitigate prosecution.