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A woman has been fined £80 after falsely reporting her phone as having been snatched outside Highbury and Islington station on 24 November.
Upon further questioning, the woman admitted she had mislead police, revealing that she intended to claim for the phone on her insurance after upgrading the policy to cover loss.
Figures show that there have been 78 instances of personal robbery in St. Mary’s alone in the last year, almost double the figure from 2010.
Islington Police have called attention to the seriousness of the offence amidst sharp increase in genuine phone snatchings.
Detective Sergeant Sian Newell said: “It is disheartening that whilst we continue to try and make strides in bringing down the number of thefts in the borough, there are people out there who trivialise the issue.”
A recent report by the Association of British Insurers showed that the combined cost of all known fraudulent claims in 2011 totalled nearly £1 billion, a 7 per cent increase from 2010.
The report also highlights the collateral damage that fraudulent claims can have on other consumers. It said: “The ABI estimates that fraud adds, on average, an extra £50 a year to the annual insurance bill for every UK policyholder.”
