Insurance Claims Investigations are No Laughing Matter

Last July, a Pasadena police officer as good as gave herself up for guilty when she poured a bucket of water over a fellow officer in an ALS Ice Bucket Challenge video. No, dousing a police officer is not a crime, but deftly hoisting a 5-gallon bucket of ice water weighing about 42 lbs., then effortlessly tossing it from shoulder height, does look dangerously like insurance fraud if you happen to be receiving disability payments, claiming a lower back injury.

Unfortunately for insurance companies, not all cases of insurance fraud are so easy to pinpoint. In most cases insurance claims investigations are necessary to uncover cases that can be dug nefariously deep. And while it may be tempting to smile at this officer losing track of her “injury” no one should be laughing about insurance fraud. It’s all around us and it is doing collateral damage to each and everyone.

Premium Damage

There’s the open evidence of higher household and auto insurance premiums because insurance companies have no choice but to pass the cost of their fraud losses on to policy holders. The FBI estimates that insurance fraud costs the average family between $400 – $700 a year in increased premiums.

That’s money flowing out of policy holders’ bank accounts, but perhaps more would be flowing in if their employers were not spending millions of dollars annually due to insurance fraud’s cascading effect on the cost of providing employee health benefits and insuring the business.

Cost of Living Damage

Prices of consumer goods continue to rise since each manufacturer, food producer, distributor and store finds his healthcare and commercial premiums increasing and finds it necessary to build the cost into his prices. Add them together and the result is sticker shock for all at the checkout counter!

The Most Tragic Damage of All

Thankfully, it doesn’t happen every day, but innocent people have died, tragic victims of arson and staged automobile accidents;crimes perpetrated to fraudulently collect insurance payments.

The Other Side of the Picture

Meanwhile fraudulent insurance claims are costing insurance companies billions of dollars a year. In an effort to stem the loss, may insurance companies have turned to Santoni Investigations and Backgrounds for insurance claims investigations.

Once on the scene, our experienced investigator work with claims adjusters and examiners, special investigations units, and defense counsel to formulate the most cost-effective strategies and solutions needed to negotiate and settle claims. Or should the case warrant it, do battle against insurance fraud.

Contact us to discover how our services such as surveillance coverage, insurance claims reports, background checks, and skip/trace investigations can benefit your company, as they have so many others in the insurance industry