– There was a very large claim. When the suitcases later resurfaced and we went home to the couple to open them together, it was revealed that the content was a completely different than what was stated in the damage report. There was no expensive equipment, but ordinary clothes, says Andreas Jacobsen Swan, head of investigating department in Storebrand to aftenposten.no.
The approaching summer vacation for many, and for insurers means that the peak season for Norwegians stolen purse or lose your suitcase. But not all insurance claims proves to be justified.
Risking jail
Insurers are not unfamiliar with customers who pretend luggage is lost or purse is stolen. Insurance fraud often takes the form of excessive damage report, arranged injuries or notice of a defect that has not happened, says Svane Jacobsen.
– It is ordinary people in all walks of life that swindler of insurance, but in some environments insurance fraud more or less accepted, in the same way to tax evasion. You have to be aware that insurance fraud is a crime, and that they risk insurance denial, police and prison, says Jacobsen.
Ripped for half a billion
It was discovered insurance fraud for half a billion dollars last year, according to figures from Finance Norway. During this year’s first three months of the fraud for 73 million revealed. In addition, it is the big unknown.
It is most fraud cases in general insurance, particularly in the automotive and insurance, but there is sickness and disability products that account for the largest sums (64 percent of the total amount).
More expensive insurance
According to Storebrand is this the most common forms of fraud:
• Insurance customer reports things stolen, but in reality they are lost or destroyed. This applies to everything from mobile phones to luggage.
• Applying more and more expensive things in lost luggage than it actually contained.
• The company also sees a number of cases of customers who leave that luggage has been lost on the tape on arrival. In the worst cases there are some customers who “lose” their luggage nearly every time they are traveling.
Jacobsen points out that those fraudster insurers, in practice fraudster community.
– Prices of insurance policies linked to how much companies pay out in claims, and large compensation payments provides more expensive insurance policies, says Jacobsen.
Contacts witnesses
All insurance companies have their own investigators, often former policemen , which investigates cases of suspected fraud. Arne Voll, Chief Gjensidige insurance says they have about 20 investigators working to expose fraud.
– Annual uncovers Gjensidige around 200 attempt insurance fraud. Most cases are there in Motor and travel, said Voll.
– If settlement workers or other suspects in a case, investigators begin an investigation. They check facts, as if the purse given lost purchased in the store customer specifies. They can also contact witnesses or cooperating with contacts we have in other countries, to find out local information, says Voll.
Here are some of the companies frenetic fraud stories:
Insurance Reciprocal, Tryg and Storebrand telling concrete examples of cases where they have revealed fraud.
Did suitcase full
A customer demanded 60,000 dollars in damages for a suitcase that did not come forward for a holiday trip. The insurance company discovered that this was the third suitcase customer demanded compensation for over three years. The insurance company revealed that the client had forged a receipt. A reconstruction also showed that it was impossible to fit in your suitcase for all things customer claimed were lost.
The case was reported to the police, and the customer who was punished earlier, acknowledged insurance fraud in court. She was sentenced to 30 days imprisonment.
“Damaged” nose
A customer reported that she had been the victim of traffic accident in his home country, where she was sent by ambulance and emergency surgery in nose. The study revealed, in cooperation with a company in the country, she had not had any emergency surgery, but a planned nose surgery. They found that the doctor worked at a plastic surgery clinic, where they do not treat acute cases. Name the customer entered the hospital was not right.
Customer insurance claim was denied and the client reviewed.
The poem acquisitions
A family of four said that they were stolen luggage for over 100 000 when they stayed in Sweden. The case was investigated due to the high replacement demand and little documentation. The family was asked to state how the different things was purchased. The company found that some of the purchases had never taken place, some of the shops had never sold products or did not exist at times purchases would have happened.
The insurance company rejected the claim, saying the customer and noted concerned that future undesirable.
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