Black box foils car scam

INSURERS are using car telematics boxes to catch fraudsters making bogus claims.

The boxes measure how you brake and accelerate to work out an insurance premium based your safety as a driver.

But they can also be used to thwart scammers. In one case, two drivers claimed their cars were badly damaged in an accident. But one driver’s insurer, insurethebox, found the crash was not as severe after studying telematics data.

And the other driver was found to have been in two other crashes that day to falsely claim. Both drivers admitted fraud and were ordered to pay £70,000 to insurethebox.