The Role of Social Media in Investigating Insurance Fraud
A Bugatti driver drove his beautiful car off the road and into the ocean. Why? It turns out the driver had insured his million dollar car for more than two million. He claimed it was an accident, but the insurance company found the action caught on video on YouTube: sufficient evidence to deny the claim and convict the driver of what the industry calls the largest single attempted car insurance scam in history.
Industry studies have found that fraudulent insurance claims make up 10-20% of all claims costs, stealing $80 billion a year. This impacts everyone by raising premium prices for all policyholders. In 2015, Canadian auto insurer, ICBC opened approximately 7,500 fraud investigations, which included almost 5,000 claims investigations. The work of its special investigations unit led to a 98% conviction rate on all charges.
Insurance fraud can come in a variety of forms, including the following, of which we will focus in more detail.
In other words: Pretending something has happened that really has not.
A man reported to police and his auto insurance company that his perfect truck had been vandalized. When investigators dug in, they found the same truck listed for sale on Craigslist, with the description admitting he was selling because the repairs were too expensive.
In other words: Pretending you are more injuredthan you are (unable to work).
A man collected $30,000 in benefits after claiming he was injured and unable to work. Photos on Facebook led the investigators to his gym, where undercover cameras caught him bench pressing five hundred pounds.
In other words: Pre-planning an event like a staged collision, or theft. Much like the Bugatti story.
Convictions of any form of fraud can “limit a person’s career options, prevent one from crossing the border and applying for credit, have claims completely denied, result in asset seizures, denial of optional insurance coverage, and other civil remedies.”
The Use Of Social Media In Investigations
As of 2015, 73% of US Americans had a social network profile.
