The insurance industry is "hitting back", we've been told.

Now many people may already have something of a low opinion of insurance companies as it is, so to hear that they are set to go throwing their weight around may not be likely to put a smile on many people's faces. Especially after this year's flooding has resulted in car insurance and home insurance premiums increasing as insurers look to cover their losses.

But the industry is, we are told, hitting back against fraudsters. That should surely bring comfort to the vast majority of us, because the Association of British Insurers (ABI) believes that fraudulent activity adds as much as £40 per year to the average insurance premium. Furthermore, it costs the industry £1.6 billion every year, so getting rid of the fraudsters can only be good news for everyone, right?

Well it seems perhaps not everyone will be celebrating. The ABI has revealed the shocking extent to which many Britons take liberties with their insurance claims and routinely commit insurance fraud. Many of us seem to think it is no big deal to squeeze a bit more out of an insurance claim and will deliberately exaggerate the cost of a claim for actual loss. Indeed, this accounts for 85 per cent of all fraudulent claims. And of all claims made to insurance companies, as many as one in 11 are fraudulent, the ABI said.

Opportunistic fraud claims appear to have become analogous with speeding in the minds of many people. Just as most think they are doing nothing wrong by driving over the limit - and are likely to be angry with the policeman or camera that catches them more than with themselves for braking the law - so a surprising number of people seem to think insurance fraud is a victimless crime.

But far from it, the victims of opportunistic insurance fraud are many and varied - and even include the perpetrators because their premiums are inflated by their own actions. Now, the ABI is working to crack down on insurance fraud in a similar way to the government and police have worked to target speeding drivers. The insurance industry now catches £1.3 million of insurance fraud per day, burning the fingers of those who have carried out fraudulent activity and making it an increasingly unacceptable practice. It is hoped claim inflation will be made socially unacceptable, rather than being seen as a person's 'reward' for regularly paying their premiums.