R15bn worth of insurance claims bogus

"Pressure, opportunity and rationalisation" as well as "a sense of entitlement" were some of the reasons South Africans were submitting in false claims, the SA Insurance Crime Bureau executive director Michiel Nel told the newspaper.

The bureau suggested that of all the claims submitted in 2013 - estimated to cost R50bn - approximately one third were thought to be fraudulent.

Audit and forensics head at Santam, Helen du Toit, told the Sunday Times that while people considered issuing false claims as "socially acceptable" and "not as serious as other crimes", in fact, submitting bogus claims could have legal and criminal repercussions.