An insurance fraudster who pocketed more than £14,000 for the supposed theft of Lego sets, fishing gear and gaming consoles was behind one of last year’s most high-profile bogus claims.

Investigators uncovered £1.34bn of fraud in 2025, a 14% increase on the year before, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

The Lego fraudster, Matthew Johnson, was sentenced to 28 months in prison last December after an investigation by the City of London police’s insurance fraud enforcement department.

Johnson, of Misterton in Nottinghamshire, submitted false claims to Axa Insurance between May 2021 and January 2022, relating to alleged burglaries at properties in Shetland and Goole, East Yorkshire.

He claimed that high-value items had been stolen, including MacBooks, televisions, gaming consoles, fishing equipment and large quantities of collectible Lego sets. Johnson received more than £14,000 in insurance payouts across four claims. He was ordered by Nottingham crown court to repay the money.

Axa raised concerns after inconsistencies were identified in the documentation provided by Johnson, including repeated use of the same receipts across different claims and invoices that appeared to have been altered to match the policy address.

The ABI and police warned that insurance fraud pushed up the cost of premiums for all customers.

Mark Allen, head of fraud and financial crime at the association, said: “Anyone considering committing insurance fraud should be under no illusion – it’s a serious crime with serious consequences, including a criminal conviction and imprisonment.”

While the number of detected fraudulent claims fell by 2.7% to 93,900 cases last year, the value of scams rose sharply. The ABI said this was a sign of its growing scale and sophistication.

The average value of a fraudulent claim reached £14,300 last year – the second-highest figure on record, just below the peak of £14,600 in 2022.

Motor insurance was again the area with the most fraud, accounting for 55% of all cases. With 51,900 fraudulent motor claims worth £625m uncovered last year, the figures point to fewer but more costly cases. The average value rose to £12,000, the second-highest figure since 2015.

A fraudster who staged motor collisions using women he met online was sentenced for the “crash for cash” scheme designed to generate fraudulent insurance claims, the ABI said.

Aviva discovered bogus insurance claims worth £233m last year, it said in June. Scammers tried new tricks including using artificial intelligence to fake car accident scenes and documents.

Simon Klust, who heads the City of London police fraud team, said more than 250 bogus claims were detected each day but this was “likely to be just the tip of the iceberg”.

The travel sector had the sharpest rise in the number of bogus claims. Investigators uncovered a £300,000 insurance scam that used multiple fake identities, fabricated medical documents and bogus websites to support false medical emergency claims.

Exaggerated loss remains the most common type of fraud, with 26,900 cases identified. This is when someone deliberately increases the cost of a claim beyond its true value.

Ursula Jallow of the Insurance Fraud Bureau, which is funded by insurers, said: “Insurance fraud is devastating. It costs honest consumers when times are already tough.”