Insurance Ireland welcomes the latest development in an ongoing Garda investigation into insurance ghost broking.

While we cannot comment on ongoing legal proceedings, we are fully supportive of any and all efforts to bring the criminals involved in this scam to justice.

Ghost brokers are fraudsters selling forged or invalid insurance to unsuspecting consumers. They are not legitimate brokers as we know them.

Although it is difficult to accurately quantify the size and scale of ghost broking, this high-profile criminal investigation highlights that it is a persistent problem in the Irish market. Furthermore, with more consumers searching for competitively-priced insurance, the issue is not going away. We know that certain groups, such as younger drivers and non English speakers, are more vulnerable to this crime and as such it is both timely and important to alert consumers to these scams.  

We urge consumers to protect themselves: consult Insurance Ireland’s public advice on ghost broking, and avoid becoming a victim of these fraudsters. We would also encourage anyone intending to purchase insurance to check the Central Bank of Ireland’s online register if they are unsure if the broker offering the product is legitimate. If the firm is not authorised to provide that service, consumers should not purchase it. Ghost brokers are unauthorised to sell insurance to the public and are not supervised by the Central Bank of Ireland.

Insurance Ireland proactively engages with An Garda Síochána and other stakeholders on the issue of ghost broking and will continue to do so