Bob Barnett, managing director of specialist fraud investigators Ravenstone UK, is one of the pessimists. At one time, fraudulent claims didn't go on so much, but it's turned into a massive problem. People at one time wouldn't have dreamed of making a claim unless they were injured, but now it's at epidemic proportions. The particular appeal of personal injury fraud is that it can be so lucrative. If you have a personal injury claim in there, the cost shoots up.
Injuries can also be reasonably easy to fake, or at least exaggerate.
Unless there is very good evidence to counteract that, their claims will stand. Getting evidence that someone is lying is not very easy. Personal injury fraud falls into two areas. The first is the opportunistic, small-scale cheat, who has had a genuine bump on the head or botched medical procedure, but is tempted to exaggerate the extent to which they have been incapacitated. They may also have had a bad back from twisting awkwardly in bed, which they decide they might as well attribute to the accident.