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Story: FCA Ghost Broking Warning Targets 4 Million Young UK Drivers Buying Insurance on Social Media

By Julie Binoche

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Fraud Numbers Are Climbing Fast. The Insurance Fraud Bureau tracked a 52% rise in ghost broking cases from 2022 to 2024.

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Influencers and the Government Taskforce. The FCA isn't just putting out press releases. It's working directly with social media influencers…

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What Young Drivers Should Actually Do. The core message is straightforward. Don't buy insurance from someone who slid into your DMs or…

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Young drivers in the UK are getting scammed. The Financial Conduct Authority is sounding the alarm on ghost broking — a fraud that's been quietly exploding on social media…

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The numbers are pretty stark. Research shows nearly half of young drivers bought insurance through social media. And 39% of them said they wouldn't know how to spot a fake policy.

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Ghost brokers don't look like scammers. That's the problem.

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They pose as legitimate insurance providers. They offer deals that look cheaper than anything you'd find through a real broker — because the policies are either completely fake,…

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The Insurance Fraud Bureau tracked a 52% rise in ghost broking cases from 2022 to 2024. Aviva reported a 22% jump since 2023 alone.

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Graeme Reynolds, the FCA's insurance director, was direct about it: drivers need to check that any firm they're buying from is actually registered and legitimate, because driving…

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The FCA's advice is pretty simple. If a deal is only available through social media and seems too good to be true, treat it as suspicious.

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See also: FCA Launches Scale-Up Unit to Help Fast-Growing UK Financial Firms

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The FCA isn't just putting out press releases. It's working directly with social media influencers to push the message out to the exact demographic getting hit.

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The campaign also ties into the Government's Motor Insurance Taskforce, which is focused on cutting uninsured driving and insurance fraud more broadly.

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And ghost broking is baked into the FCA's wider five-year strategy on financial crime. It's not a one-off awareness push.

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Read also: KelpDAO Exploit Exposes $292 Million Gap in Bridge Security Across DeFi

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