Britain’s young drivers are being duped out of hundreds of thousands of pounds by insurance con-artists who sell fake policies on social media.

Almost £165,000 has been stolen over the past four years, by so-called ‘ghost brokers’ who claim to be offering great insurance rates on Facebook, but the policies are actually worthless, leaving car owners out-of-pocket and unknowingly susceptible to a fine for driving without insurance.

Police forces across the UK are currently in the middle of a major crackdown on car insurance avoidance, catching up to 3,000 uninsured drivers per day. But the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) has warned that the scammers can charge up to £912 per time and leave young motorists uninsured. The IFED advises drivers to always check the British Insurance Brokers’ Association website to see a full list of approved insurance brokers.

Craig Mullish, acting head of City of London Police’s IFED team said: "We're fully behind the MIB's valuable campaign to catch uninsured drivers and help protect sensible motorists from the dangers they pose.

"However, while there are some senseless people who choose to drive without insurance - which we hope this campaign will identify and or deter from doing so - we're aware that there may be thousands of well-intentioned motorists on the road right now who think they've got legitimate cover but have in fact been sold fake insurance by a fraudster.

"These fraudsters are commonly known in the insurance industry as ghost brokers and they leave the driver and other road users open to the severe harms that come with driving without valid insurance.

"We'd encourage drivers to be wary of heavily discounted prices they see on the internet or are offered directly."

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