Insurance fraud has become a major issue in earthquake-ravaged Christchurch as some property owners take advantage of the disaster.
Police are dealing with several cases from the top end where people are accused of false or inflated claims to the taxpayer-funded Earthquake Commission (EQC), as well as one where a private insurer paid $1.5 million to an alleged fraudster.
"I suspect we will get quite a few more," Christchurch police fraud squad head Detective Senior Sergeant John Rae said.
"This is all new ground to us, but a paper done on overseas earthquakes has suggested that one in 10 claims has got some fraudulent element to it."
Since October last year, additional inquiries by EQC into dubious claims resulted in nearly $1.1 million of "incorrect entitlement" not being paid out.
"Unfortunately, in some instances, this may be deliberate dishonesty. EQC takes this extremely seriously and will have no hesitation in forwarding such cases to the police."
The Insurance Council of New Zealand says it will not tolerate fraud, and is using various methods to identify it and refer it to police.
Three cases of alleged insurance fraud are before the courts in Canterbury, including a 41-year-old woman facing a number of charges over allegedly forged and altered documents relating to properties she owned.
