Insurance giant Aviva has called for a more joined-up approach to tackle scams such as ghost-broking fraud. The company is encouraging Ofcom to use its consultation on fraudulent advertising codes of practice as an opportunity to strengthen online advertising rules.
Call for deeper partnerships
Aviva has called for deeper partnership between industry, social media platforms and others to share intelligence that can help enforcement happen more quickly. Ghost broking happens when unsuspecting people are sold fake or invalid policies, often through social media.
Young drivers, who may have less experience of buying insurance policies and often pay relatively high premiums, are often targeted. Policies are made artificially cheap by criminals by altering details, and victims may not realise they have been scammed until they try to make a claim.
Surge in takedown requests
Aviva said that, comparing the full year in 2025 with the year to date in 2026, website take down requests made by the insurer which were related to ghost broking have increased by more than eight times.
Aviva said it wants to see faster takedown of fraudulent content, recognising the direct link between how long fraudulent content is live for and the extent of consumer harm. It also said there should be mandatory verification of financial services advertisers, to ensure that account activity is in line with the relevant Financial Conduct Authority authorisations, including whether a provider is legitimate and has genuine authority to sell, arrange, introduce or promote the relevant products.
Industry response
Owen Morris, CEO personal lines at Aviva, said: “At Aviva, we’re seeing how tech is scaling the threat posed by fraud.
“We think two things need to happen to curb this rise. The first is Ofcom following through on its proposals to ensure that fraudulent content is identified and removed before it has the chance to do real harm to the public.
“The second is a new coalition bringing together financial institutions, platforms, consumer groups, regulators and law enforcement to share both real-time intel and discuss broader trends.
“Social media platforms are key to these efforts. We encourage them to work with the insurance industry to establish better intelligence sharing and cooperation.
“We would also like to see the platforms contribute more proportionately towards enforcement and victim support.”
“It’s important to remember that insurance fraud is part of a wider trend of tech enabling online fraud more generally – an issue which includes the threat from investment scams and finfluencers promoting unregulated financial advice.
“Without this new regulation, as well as more joined-up enforcement, we risk more of the public falling victim to these scams.”
Ofcom proposals
In July, Ofcom published proposals on tackling paid-for scam adverts. The regulator said in July that more than half (51%) of adults have encountered potentially fraudulent ads online, with over a third (36%) seeing them frequently.
Ofcom said an estimated total of over £200 million is lost by victims to such scams in the UK on average each year. A consultation to gather feedback has been running, and final decisions will be published next year.
Oliver Griffiths, Ofcom’s online safety group director, said: “For too long, victims have been exposed to scam ads online with tech giants simply not doing enough to combat the fraudsters using their platforms.
“We’ve set out nearly 40 practical, protective measures for companies to adopt. We expect firms to take robust action to stamp out scam ads and boot out the bad actors behind them to safeguard their users.
“Platforms should not drag their heels – they can start making improvements for their users now.
“And sites and apps that fail to meet their legal duties, once in force, can expect to face serious consequences.”
