PPI fraudsters give legitimate firms a bad name

From STV11/04/12:

A woman has been conned out a three-figure sum of money by a bogus PPI claims company. The 42-year-old received a phone call to her house in Telford Drive, Edinburgh on Wednesday March 28 from someone saying they were from a PPI claims company.

They told her she was eligible for a refund and she was told to pay them a three-figure sum of money through UKash vouchers. The victim has not received a refund.

A spokesman for the [Lothian and Borders Police] force said: "The issue of PPI refunds is a very current topic and criminals will look to exploit any new opportunity to obtain money or personal details from members of our communities.

Tens of thousands of successful PPI claims have already been brought, providing redress for victims who have been mis-sold payment protection insurance. It would be a great pity if all the good work done by firms bringing claims for payment protection insurance on behalf of their clients is undermined by the fraudsters who are swindling claimants out of what’s rightfully theirs.

In this way, for those that fall victim to the fraudsters, payment protection insurance has a painful double bite. Just as bad, the ensuing negative publicity may well prevent others from coming forward who have potentially valid claims.

As an aside, PPI claims offer another tangential benefit: according to the Scotsman, the significant recruitment drive seen in the banking sector in the first quarter of 2012 is largely down to additional staff required to deal with the PPI fallout.

While it doesn’t detract from the gravity of PPI being mis-sold in the first place, there’s nothing wrong with looking to reap as many benefits as possible in clearing up the resultant mess. And the economy can use all the help it can get at the moment.