The Foreign Office updated its travel advice after a Mail On Sunday investigation found some resorts have seen a 400% increase in the number of illness claims.
A statement on the FCO’s website states: “There have been reports of a rise in claims companies targeting holidaymakers at resorts in Spain inviting them to make false insurance claims regarding holiday sickness.
“Making a fraudulent insurance claim is illegal and a criminal offence in Spain, and can incur penalties such as heavy fines and imprisonment.”
The Mail On Sunday reported that Conservative MP Craig Tracey, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Insurance and Financial Services, said: “I’ve spoken with many organisations who are seeing this rising problem has become a real concern.
“Anyone who makes a fraudulent claim pushes the costs up for the operators and that will be passed on to the consumers.”
Over the weekend Mail Online reported that “one of Britain’s largest tour operators” had used investigators to expose a company over bogus sick claims.
Mail Online reported that the investigators – posing as a family-of-four on holiday in Benidorm – were approached by a British firm called Sick By The Sea which was caught on camera encouraging them to lie about falling ill at the resort.
Director of Sick By The Sea, Steven Howarth, told Mail Online: “It is not our company policy to encourage people to lie about holiday sickness claims and we will look at disciplinary action against this member of staff.”
