Welcome to the information website about the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Australia (IFBA).

ATTENTION! This website does not provide any services, but is used only as a source of information.

IFBA (The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Australia) is a working element of the Insurance Council of Australia
(visit www.InsuranceCouncil.com.au for original information).

Some individuals see nothing wrong with defrauding an insurance company, often expressing the view that it is a victim-less crime.

The truth is that fraudulent insurance claims ultimately cost everybody who takes out insurance. The most recent study estimated that insurance fraud in Australia costs more than $2 billion annually, the cost of which is a significant component of today’s insurance premiums paid by individual honest policyholders. Of course, undetected insurance fraud is, by virtue of it being undetected, often treated as a legitimate claim and paid by an insurer, drawing down on the pool of funds available to pay the claims of honest policyholders.

Insurers don’t think that honest customers should be paying for fraud. IFBA  has been established by insurers to help co-ordinate action against individuals committing insurance fraud in Australia, using models and techniques that have proven successful in the United Kingdom and in other jurisdictions.

Most Australian and many international insurers participate in IFBA, using the services to work collaboratively to protect honest customers and by helping law enforcement to identify and take action against those who commit fraud.

If you have any questions or would like further information please see our frequently asked questions page or contact us to ask a specific question.

The term insurance fraud covers a range of issues and can be deceiving to some people.  Fraud is simply another form of “Theft” which involves some type of trick or deception. 

Insurance Fraud can include the exaggeration of otherwise legitimate claims, intentional misrepresentation of the facts or complex organised manipulation of the claims process to gain a financial advantage where there been no actual loss.

The most common form of insurance fraud is the exaggeration of personal claims – this is referred to as Opportunistic Fraud

Premeditated or planned frauds are usually committed by the Professional Fraudster and often by Organised Criminal Gangs.

Regardless of whether the fraud is committed on a one-off basis (opportunity) or is a series of frauds committed by a professional criminal it is still considered at law to be a serious indictable offence where the penalties can be imprisonment for up to 10 years or a substantial fine or both.

The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Australia (IFBA) is a working element of the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), established to help combat insurance fraud in all of its forms.

The specific mandate of IFBA is to execute information collection, sharing and analysis of insurance fraud information that facilitates insurance company (members of the ICA) action against insurance fraud, informs community decision making and law enforcement investigations activity; to reduce the incidence and impact of insurance fraud on honest policyholders. In other words, IFBA exists to help stop individuals committing insurance fraud so that the costs are not passed onto those in the community who do the right thing.

To do this IFBA:

1. Provides a business hours hotline service for community members to report suspected insurance fraud
2. Provides a law enforcement inquiry service to facilitate police investigations where insurance fraud may be a factor
3. Coordinates information exchange between insurers where a criminal act is reasonably believed to have occurred
4. Participates in community and government forums focussed on crime prevention