Prevention: a key strategic pillar

What was Fraud Cons?

Frauds Cons was our 2023 digital marketing campaign. Named due to the dual nature of the word cons, one being scams and the other short for consequences. This was the first campaign we've run where we targeted victim and opportunistic audiences at the same time. This allowed us to target keywords and interests that would apply to both groups. Imagine someone searching online for insurance scam; are they a victim looking for help or a fraudster looking for ideas to make cash fast?

We had a dedicated dual purpose landing page that reflected both of these audience personas and showed the relevant information. Check it out for yourself: https://insurancefraudbureau.org/fraud-cons

In response to industry feedback IFB made the decision to target opportunists of insurance fraud for the first time, and this was the right call as this was revealed to be the top threat detected by the Industry Strategic Threat Assessment that we shared with members in August 2023.

This was also the first campaign where we were able to track the user journey from seeing the ad, clicking on the landing page, through to making a CheatLine submission. This is known in marketing as a conversion, and whilst the primary focus of the campaign was raising awareness, this shows the impact that the ads had and came as a bonus, driving intelligence into the IFB up!

The campaign covered several different insurance fraud scenarios including claims and application fraud, slip and trip, travel insurance fraud, Ghost Broking, Moped Crash for Cash and paid ad spoofing.

An always on campaign?

This campaign was also a first as it was always on. An always on campaign is what it says on the tin: ALWAYS ON. It's a continuous digital campaign that is run on one or a mix of different channels, for X period of time (in this case 5 months).

Purpose of being always on?
By being always on, this allowed us to increase awareness among a targeted audience through a constant digital presence. By utilising tools such as retargeting, it allowed us to focus interactions with people who've shown an interest in our ads and are more likely to then click through to our website or search for more information on insurance fraud/scams online.

The campaign in figures

• 5 social media platforms were utilised
• 2 Google Advertising methods were used
• 6 different types of fraud were depicted
• 34 videos were created
• 53.7 million impressions
• 410.6k clicks
• 33 CheatLine submissions
• A CheatLine submission every 3.5 days (on average)

The timeline

We started the campaign with claims and application fraud on the opportunist side and Moped Crash for Cash for the victims. The Moped Crash for Cash was still being covered by the press following our press release a month earlier and allowed this messaging to be amplified whilst also targeting users in, and around, the North London area, a noted hotspot for this scam. This also tied in with efforts City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) were making on the ground to raise awareness and leaflet affected postcodes.

Following this the opportunist-focused content, featured Travel Insurance fraud immediately after the end of the summer holidays. Next Liability lines were portrayed by Slip & Trip style scams, before circling back to Claims and Application fraud to end the campaign.

On the victim front Ghost Broking featured twice, once as the school year was starting to help raise awareness among new drivers and again in the lead up to Black Friday – an observed tactic of these tricky scammers. In between, Clip for Cash and Paid Ad Spoofing ads allowed us to make waves and hopefully disrupt some nefarious activities.

Want to see some of the ads we featured? Check them out on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@insurancefraudbureau939