What happens if insurance finds out you lied?

What happens if insurance finds out you lied in Australia, called non-disclosure or misrepresentation, can lead to claim denied, policy cancelled, premium increased or fraud prosecution, under Insurance Contracts Act 1984. If you lie on application about age, health, driving history, home security or previous claims, insurer can void policy from start, refuse claim and keep premium, especially if lie is material to risk. For example, if you lie about car being garaged when parked on street and it is stolen, insurer may deny theft claim $10K and cancel policy, leaving you uninsured and with black mark on insurance database, making future insurance 20% to 50% more expensive. If you lie about home being occupied when vacant 60+ days and fire occurs, building claim $500K may be denied. If you lie about jewellery value or previous claims, claim denied. For minor innocent non-disclosure like forgetting to mention minor traffic offence, insurer may reduce claim payment proportionately rather than deny fully, under duty of disclosure. For fraudulent lie like staging theft, insurer can report to police for fraud, penalty $10K fine or jail, and you are blacklisted. So if insurance finds out you lied, claim denied, policy cancelled, future premiums higher, and possible fraud prosecution, so always disclose truthfully about security, occupancy, claims history and value, as duty of disclosure requires.