INSURED: THE TEMPTATION TO CHEAT | M6 | Enquête Exclusive

Which crime in France represents a huge market, even greater than that of drugs? Against all expectations, it’s insurance fraud. The problem is that only a tiny portion of frauds are discovered while the entire cost is borne by the collective body of the insured¾that is, all French people. And the reason attempts to defraud are rife is that the risks are not very great. There is no specific criminal offence. So, in order to combat this scourge, insurance companies turn to independent investigators. We accompany these 21^st century “private eyes”, whose mission is to spot the flaws, into the field. They don’t have the resources of the police, so they need a nose… Because they are up against limitless imagination and schemes used to cheat insurers. Certain individuals will balk at nothing. They invent imaginary assaults, stage fake car accidents or, even more incredibly, go so far as deliberate self-amputation. If they succeed in passing themselves off as injured victims, they receive millions in compensation. Sometimes, there are veritable organised gangs mounting large-scale frauds. Such a case began in the South-West of France. Suspicion was aroused by multiple instances of stolen and burnt-out vehicles at one dealership. The investigator discovers a traffic in cars from one European country to another in order to slip through the net. She had to work back up the network to East European countries in order to expose the scam… Who are these fraudsters? Why is it so difficult to stop them? How can one put a end to the phenomenon? An investigation into the explosion of insurance fraud.