BBC1 is showing a series called Claimed And Shamed, which is effectively a publicity campaign for the insurance industry's fight against fraud. Watches seem to be involved quite a lot.
For example, yesterday's programme included a claim for an Omega Seamaster which had accidentally been left behind at the end of a holiday. The claimant was able to provide evidence of purchase and the claim was paid. At a future point, the watch was sold to a retailer -who, as part of their due diligence, checked a lost and stolen register. The Seamaster's serial number came up (as the insurance company had registered it at the time of the claim). The retailer had also obtained proof of identity from the person who had sold them the watch. Guess what (you're way ahead of me...) - the watch had been sold to them by the person who had originally claimed the watch had been lost. He had to repay the money to the insurance company, although they didn't say whether any legal proceedings had been taken against him for fraud.
Today's programme also showed how they are using technology - using EXIF data from photographs to show that the they were taken after the date of the claim; black box data from cars to challenge claimants' versions of how accidents had happened; social media postings showing a "disabled" claimant in the gym - to challenge claims.
This reminds me of an episode of 24hrs in Police Custody where they used exit data against a Surgeon committing insurance fraud.
The episode is no longer available on demand, but here is a news item I found.
https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/new...th-24-16664089
Last edited by Matt London; 23rd October 2019 at 20:15. Reason: I and i
Damning stuff the old exif data.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
tip of the ice berg I am afraid , it takes so long to gather and so much evidence that is required for a insurer to pursue a fraudulent claimant successfully, even just to reject one is difficult with the ombudsman regulations! but technology is here & helping, we just rejected a claim as the claimant said the vehicle was parked when it was damaged out side his house, we interrogated the ecu/ car found the vehicle was moving and were it was when it was hit!, saved 8 K in repairs , and there are cases were we know the claim is fraudulent but we just cant prove it! it may not seem like much but when people claim for damage on the opposite side of the car to the impact that is old kerb damage to a wheel, or damage that is aged & rusting ( yes they do), that's still fraud and repeated many time all adds to claims costs which ups premiums !
Or just edit the EXIF data using something like ExifTools - https://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/
Trust me, the stuff you see in the programs is just the tip of the iceberg, same goes for the counter fraud techniques.
The ones we dont want fraudsters to know about are kept secret.
Often, high tech isnt needed. One of the most successful tools I've used is Facebook.
But insurance fraud goes a lot deeper and is a hell of a lot darker than what you see on TV.
It's seen as an easy way or raising funds or laundering money by a number of unsavory groups some of the practices are, quite frankly terrifying.
I used to work for a multinational broker 15 or so years back and one of our wholesale marine clients tried to pay his premium with a suitcase full of unmarked bills... raised a few eyebrows even them.
I’ve been on the underwriting side for the last few years and some of the technology that’s employed on claims assessment, right from the first notification is quite scary. There’s plenty that they didn’t give away.