No market is free from insurance fraud, and its negative effects on both insurers and the policyholders they serve are universal.
To provide a snapshot of insurance fraud around the world, we asked 69色情片 professionals in offices across the many markets 69色情片 serves 鈥 from the U.K. to South Africa, from Spain to Taiwan 鈥 to identify the top three fraud trends they are seeing. Interestingly, we found more commonalities than differences and that the modus operandi of fraudsters doesn鈥檛 vary much from country to country.
A wide range of trends identified fall into the following categories:
鈥淚dentity fraud鈥 is a broad term that involves a number of methods to misrepresent details around the life assured or beneficiaries. Examples include:
In some markets 鈥渁ccident-only cover鈥 is not uncommon and may be manipulated by fraudsters to relax claim requirements and investigation practices. Altering details or portraying organic events as accidents is not as difficult as one might think. Examples of fraudulent activity identified across various markets include:
While the increased use of technology both at sales and claim stages provides obvious benefits, it also introduces additional risks. Examples of related fraud include:
An overarching sentiment across the different markets is that insurers may have become 鈥渄esensitized鈥 to policyholders being dishonest about important facts pertaining to their health, occupation, income, and hobbies. Non-disclosure continues to be problematic and shows no sign of declining, especially because investigating non-disclosure is time consuming and insurers鈥 ability to access and act upon information can be severely restricted in some markets. In fact, many insurers may not even consider this fraud, but rather an unfortunate consequence of doing business in insurance.
India provides a good example: Due to stringent regulations, insurers must proactively analyze and identify high-risk policies within their portfolio before claims occur. After three years, only 鈥渉ard fraud鈥 enables an insurer to decline a claim, and non-disclosure is not included in this. Developing aggregate industry databases to identify high-risk factors, suspicious advisor behavior, and previously declined applications is a step in the right direction to help insurers improve the risk pool.
A problem shared is a problem halved. The information presented here is nothing new, but it does reinforce that insurers around the world face similar challenges when it comes to fraud. The best way to overcome these challenges is to learn from each other. By joining forces and sharing best practices, we can better defend ourselves against those looking to defraud us. This means joining industry organizations dedicated to preventing fraud and participating in events like the 69色情片 Fraud Conference. Together we can develop the tools and technique to reduce fraud and protect the ultimate victims of this crime: the legitimate policyholders insurance is there to serve.
