Government issue warning after Tremark Investigation

The Foreign Office updated its travel advice after an Investigation in to fraudulent holiday sickness claims was undertaken by Tremark Associates and reported on in The Mail On Sunday under the headline ‘Travel firm uses ‘spies’ to rumble rogue company’

A statement on the FCO’s website states: “There have been reports of a rise in claims companies targeting holidaymakers at resorts in Spain inviting them to make false insurance claims regarding holiday sickness. Making a fraudulent insurance claim is illegal and a criminal offence in Spain, and can incur penalties such as heavy fines and imprisonment.”

Conservative MP Craig Tracey, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Insurance and Financial Services, said: “I’ve spoken with many organisations who are seeing this rising problem has become a real concern. Anyone who makes a fraudulent claim pushes the costs up for the operators and that will be passed on to the consumers.”

The Mail on Sunday detailed how Tremark Associates were instructed by “one of Britain’s largest tour operators”, and how undercover investigators exposed a company over bogus sick claims. The article which can be read in full here, reported that our investigators posing as a family-of-four on holiday in Benidorm, were approached by a British firm who were then caught on camera encouraging them to lie about falling ill at the resort.

Several claims companies were identified as coaxing holiday makers into making fraudulent claims in Tenerife, Majorca and mainland Spain

The Investigation
Tremark were instructed after hotel managers raised fears that claims management companies were handing out leaflets and approaching holidaymakers within European resorts. The industry had also seen a dramatic increase in unwarranted sickness compensation claims.

Several claims companies were identified as coaxing holiday makers into making fraudulent claims in Tenerife, Majorca and mainland Spain. Recorded evidence of the underhand techniques used along with details of the individuals behind the operations have now been passed on to the authorities by our client.

Tremark Associates are a BS102000 and ISO9001 certificated professional investigation company working in the UK and abroad. Tremark offer a wide variety of investigatory solutions including pre-employment background checks, surveillance and people tracing. Tremark are members of the Association of British Investigators and the World Association of Detectives

More details are available at https://www.tremark.co.uk/investigation-services/ , by emailing info@tremark.co.uk or by calling the investigations team on 0845 862 1853.