Fight commercial insurance fraud
The total cost of insurance fraud is estimated to be more than $40 billion per year and rising.
Fraudulent claims lead to higher insurance premiums for everyone.
Types of fraud
Insurance fraud is a crime that occurs when someone knowingly lies to an insurer in order to receive payments. Examples are:
- Misrepresenting address to obtain cheaper insurance
- Staged auto accidents
- Planned vehicle theft
- Faked or inflated losses, medical, or repair bills
- Intentionally set auto fires
- Failure to disclose all drivers who may impact the price of policies
- Fraudulent or stolen identity information used to obtain an insurance policy
- Fictitious or invalid payment information used to secure a policy
Driving defensively can help you prevent an accident and protect yourself from fraud. Here are some common schemes to be aware of:
- When stopped in the same lane of traffic, the car directly ahead of you moves forward then abruptly stops, forcing you into a collision.
- A vehicle suddenly swoops in front of you and jams on the brakes, causing a collision. Despite the low speed, the passengers in the other vehicle claim to have serious back or neck issues.
- As you merge into traffic, another driver yields and waves you on. As you merge, the driver intentionally collides with you and later denies offering you the right-of-way to police.
Reporting fraud
You can anonymously report fraud at:
Additional resources:
- National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB): The NICB is a non-profit organization that partners with insurance companies and law enforcement to help identify, detect, and prosecute insurance criminals. The NICB website is an excellent source of information.
- Fraud Bureaus: Check to see if your state sponsors a fraud bureau that investigates insurance fraud. Most states do. You may even be eligible for a record if you report a scam.