London, Sept. 17 (ANI): Security firm G4S, which was condemned for its failure to supply enough security during the Olympic Games, is spying on sick or disabled people who have claimed insurance money.
The company holds lucrative contracts to carry out investigative for insurance companies.
According to the Daily Mail, reports reveal how staff is employed to watch those who have claimed insurance money for critical injury cover to check they are not faking the extent of their condition.
But the documents also reveal how it is a ‘usual practice’ to send agents dressed as delivery men to knock on a claimant’s front door while wearing secret cameras.
They claim to have a parcel or other such item, which the person did not request, so they can film them at the door.
G4S, which was widely condemned for its catastrophic failure to supply enough security guards for the Olympics, said the tactic is known as the ‘parcel pretext’.
It is now facing legal action from a disabled woman whose home was entered by one of its staff claiming to be delivering a clothing catalogue, the report said.
The case has been taken up by civil rights group Liberty, which accused G4S of ‘oppressive and completely disproportionate’ behaviour, the report added.
Mother-of-two Tanya Joiner only discovered what had happened to her when she used data protection laws to ask for the information held on her file.
Joiner, 38, suffers from various debilitating medical conditions, including arthritis and fibromyalgia, a long-term condition that causes pain all over the body.
Her disability prevents her from working and in early 2011 she made a claim on her Zurich critical injury insurance policy.
Zurich, which disputes the extent of her disability, responded by engaging covert surveillance experts the Cotswold Group, now a division of G4S, to investigate her circumstances, the report said. (ANI)
