Sadly fraud is a problem for most businesses from what I can gather and dealing with it is, at times, a hateful task. Sometimes though catching a fraudster is one of the most satisfying things you can do. 

I'll go over some of the more common areas of this I know, have dealt with and do deal with as fraud can cost a business a lot of money, and I do mean a lot of money, but even ignoring the financial cost of it, it often grates with people in the business and owners as you know you're being screwed over but can't do anything about it. From experience, I can tell you that you may not eliminate 100% of it, but you can certainly do something to minimise it. 

But before all that, what is fraud, it's defined as being: wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain

In short, if someone lies or tries in any way to deceive for their one personal or financial gain, that is fraud. It is a criminal offence and the most common in the UK, accounting for over 40% of all reported crimes. 

And whilst a great emphasis is placed in many articles and news outlets of fraud perpetrated against consumers they often ignore that it is a very, very common crime committed by the general public against companies but, not by hardened criminals. It's crime committed by normal people who think it's okay and see no harm in it, just like insurance frauds and the likes, people for whatever reason think it's okay and it really isn't nor is it victimless. 

I can't find figures on how much this costs UK business every year but I fully expect it to be in the billions, probably several billion and guess who's paying for all that crime, all of us! Many businesses just factor in and cost things, accepting that they will have a level of fraud, and prices get hiked to cover it. There is no free lunch here. 

Important Notice

First things first, anyone reading this needs to know that, fundamentally, most people are decent and honest.

Unfortunately, however, there are a number of people that aren't and will screw you over. 

The trouble with people defrauding through false claims, for various stuff we'll get into, is that they see it as a victimless crime. If they even see it or understand that it is a crime at all, which I expect most don't. 

How you approach this is therefore important and, understanding the reasons why people are doing what they are doing is also important. 

Helping people to understand that it is a crime can be a painful necessity to protect the business. What level of tolerance does any business have for it? Well, mileage varies on that one. 

Balance

Okay, so this really is part of the notice above, I guess, but I want to highlight it separately. 

If you've read a lot I've written over the years you might get the impression that I think repairers and end customers are always right. They're not. 

There are dishonest customers, there are dishonest repairers and, pretty much, that'll be that. 

When it comes to detecting fraud, I could care less who they are.

Cracking Me Up

From dealing with spares over the years from both retail and pro customers, it almost gets me to tears of laughter when they come up with the excuses they do.

To think I've not heard the shit they spout scores of times before is, at best, laughable. 

"I didn't fit it", "It failed on fitting", "I have rights", "The CRA, the SOGA says...", really? Red rag, meet bull. 

End customers will trot out the same old crap time, after time, after time. The hilarious part is that they invariably think that they're the first ones to come up with this stuff and that somehow threatening to get their imaginary legal team on the case, take you to court, write scathing reviews, and all that crap will get them what they want.

When things degrade to that level and, when you know it's a fraud one they often will, you can almost write the script for the punter in advance and tell them exactly what they will do and say. When you do tell them, apparently, you're belittling them, being condescending and whatever other insult they can lob at you without swearing. 

Here's the thing though, facts are facts. If they're trying to defraud, that's a fact. How embarrassing and whatnot they want that to end up being to them is up to them, not me. 

And, you've lost the customer at that point anyway but that may well not be a bad thing as after all, do you want "customers" that are only too happy to do you over, think that's okay and cost you money?

Here's the surprising thing though, some of these customers often come back and are the most loyal you'll ever get. So long as you're honest with them. It's weird. I think they respect that you are honest and not taking the "P" and not taking any crap from them or anyone else. 

Having to deal with this rubbish, for many, many years I understand consumer law, what it means and very importantly, what it doesn't. So much so it's actually "fun" when the legislation is quoted, to take the argument apart and throw it back. 

The funniest part of it all, though, is that you wouldn't argue the point unless you knew that you were 100% in the right and that the facts all support and demonstrate that you are correct. Yet, even in spite of overwhelming evidence, people will often continue to argue about it telling you that the facts are not facts, you don't know whatever and so on. I've been combatting fraud for decades in this industry; I know it when I see it, both when I can and cannot prove it. 

Repairers

When repairers step outta line and, some do. Some are just plain dishonest and need to be brought to heel as the muppets that try it on give all a bad name; they are almost as much fun, although it's less enjoyable taking them to task. 

You see them submit claims that use too many parts, false visits and more but far and away the most common will be some sort of "claim" that tries to write off an appliance. Or they over-order spares in a bid to build up stock and stuff like that. 

This is actually tougher to deal with in some ways as the first thing you need to do is understand why they're doing this. It's real easy to have e knee-jerk reaction and want to throw the proverbial book at the perpetrator but you need to stop and think about it a bit. 

There are instances where you need to reign in the behaviour and make it clear that it's unacceptable but at the same time you don't wan to lose the agent, they need to be trained to understand the rules, yours, not theirs. 

Top Frauds

These are the most common frauds that I see but whilst this list is by no means exhaustive, there's not very many you won't have seen before when you deal with this sort of thing and often (especially with customers) they think they're the only one to ever try it on in the way that they are. I think often they are hoping the person that is dealing with the matter is inexperienced and will just cave at the first threat they make, oh how wrong they can be. 

Overstating Faults & Damage

I hate to think how often I've heard that a machine has leaked and flooded the house so badly that you need a boat or, the machine "blew up", "exploded" or caused huge damage in some way even on occasion causing injury to a person. Less common are gas leaks causing harm etc but, it happens. 

When you see these sorts of things you just know what's coming and what the game is.

The idea here in people's heads seems to be twofold in that they expect, if the instance is as dramatic as possible, that they will get attention faster, just be given a replacement appliance and/or they are trying to justify a claim for a new kitchen or something. Neither will succeed as it is far, far too common for people to do this even although every person that tries it on with this nonsense thinks that they are unique and the only person ever to do so. 

I have never had a successful claim made against myself or any company I have worked with for things like this, every one has been defended successfully. 

It is obviously fraudulent as the person is trying to gain a new machine, costs for damages etc by deception. 

Claiming Not Fitted

Another one that we see a lot with parts supplies, largely to end users who often have no clue what the problem is so they guess, order up a part and usually an expensive one like a module or motor. They fit it, find out that's not what was wrong, then try to return it as new for a full refund. 

But how are we to know that they haven't wrecked it or blown it as if they're doing that it could be the case?

Plus, they are not returning the part as supplied and new, it is now used and has been fitted, in effect it's now used goods. 

People view this as victimless as they think you can just use the part again and send it to someone else, to which I often respond with: "How would you feel if we sent you a used part, could you be sure that the used part supplied was 100% okay or not?". They rarely respond to this as the answer is obvious, asides which they are paying for a new part, not a used one and the price should reflect the fact it is used if it is so. 

We had to take steps to try to eradicate this type of fraud as much as possible, you can never 100% get rid of it but you can minimise it greatly. This included training staff to look for the very obvious signs that an item had been fitted and used and systems to reject these sorts of returns. 

It is fraud as the person is attempting to use an item, return it as new and unused so as to receive a full refund, which is to their gain. At the detriment and cost to the business. 

I didn't...

Overload the machine and wreck it, put the wrong detergent in and wreck it, fall on the door and break it, smash the glass, puncture the unit... the list goes on of these things. 

Often times proving these kinds of claims to be false are pretty straightforward it's just the hassle of dealing with them and going through the process that's tedious as you know what is going to be claimed, what the customer is going to say and how it's getting shot down at every stage. 

Again, these sorts of claims people seem to believe are unique, they're the only one that has ever tried it. They're not. 

But it is technically a fraud as the owner is trying to deceive in order to receive a free repair or replacement, to their gain. 

Damage Claims

In the house, after the technician has left, al of a sudden there's damage to the lino or something. 

Hateful claims these ones and can be defended of course but they can also be challenging but, it is out and out fraud, no doubt about it. 

Victimless Crime?

There are of course many others, the above is but a few examples that cost businesses a lot of money and time to deal with and businesses can take steps to reduce them. Sure, it may well cost a few sales but what would you rather, soak up the costs of the people that do this stuff along with the galling pain of it or, not get customers that are going to be dishonest and cost you money. My view always was, make those people someone else's problem, not mine. 

And as I said earlier, there are loads of people that do this you'd not expect to, they are not just the more financially challenged; it's professionals and allsorts that will try it on as well as actual repairers (though rarer) because they seem not to see this as a crime and don't appear to, for a moment, consider the cost of what they are doing. 

Not so long ago, at the time of writing, this had been highlighted for mostly the online clothing retail side of things but, it's not the only area by far however it did show that more businesses and especially online ones are waking up to this being a problem for them. 

It is also absolutely mind bending how so many people think that they are the only ones to try this stuff on and, how they found bits and bobs online to support their position. They seem to forget that we've seen it all before (many times) and that we can search the internet just as well as they can, if not better. 

Lots of companies I've dealt with put huge efforts into tracking stock and trying to prevent staff from pinching stuff and for sure, that can be a problem for some but it's all too possible that they are ignoring the elephant in the room, staff pinching from them isn't the biggest hole that they have, it's others. 

You really need to look into this as a business and ensure that you have robust systems in place to minimise fraud, at least as much as you can.