Insurance companies are stepping up their efforts to catch fraudulent claims, an industry figure has said.

David Kuo, head of personal finance at Fool.co.uk, said measures such as voice recognition technology amongst other things was being introduced in order to stamp out bogus insurance claims.

Mr Kuo said firms are becoming more prudent and employ highly trained assessors to determine whether a claimant is telling the truth or not.

He added people trying to lie on their claims form were irresponsible and more than likely to get caught doing so.

"It has become a very cut throat business. Insurance companies are looking at different methods in which they can go through the claims form and determine who has been fraudulent and who hasn't," Mr Kuo stated.

The Insurance Fraud Bureau reported that false insurance claims cost the industry around £1.5 billion a year and this results in a five per cent increase to the price of the average premium.

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