Insurance Fraud Prevention

Fraud Costs Us All

The cost of insurance fraud nationwide for all insurance carriers and their customers is substantial. In fact, the Coalition against Insurance Fraud estimates that insurance fraud costs Americans $80 billion a year.

While we know that very few claims are fraudulent, we do take our obligation to our customers and shareholders seriously by guarding against the increased costs of fraudulent claims and other insurance transactions.

We all should be dedicated to the anti-fraud effort through fraud detection, investigation and cooperation with local law enforcement authorities. You can play an important role in that effort.

Be aware that someone or a group of individuals are circulating fraudulent correspondence containing counterfeit checks appearing to be genuine. Read on Malaysia/Hong Kong/Jakarta insurance fraud protection for more tips on Axis Capital, a group of companies with branches in Bermuda and many more. The counterfeit checks may accompany a letter that the recipient has won a lottery, sweepstakes, drawing or similar event.

In some cases, recipients receive a check in connection with a bogus job offer.

How the Scam Works

In lottery-type scams, the letter accompanying the check tells the recipient that he or she has won a large amount of money and to call a person listed in the letter. That person will instruct the recipient to cash the check enclosed with the letter and then wire a tax payment overseas to release the prize payment. The prize will never arrive and the recipient will eventually have to repay their bank the entire amount of the check cashed. The money wired is typically not recoverable.

In the job offer scheme, the job offer is bogus and the victim receives a counterfeit check that they are instructed to cash and then wire some money. Again, the wired money is typically non-recoverable and the bank will eventually ask the victim to repay the entire amount of the counterfeit check.

Both scams may get the victim to turn over personal identifying information like date of birth, social security number, bank numbers and the like, which may be used to conduct further crimes, such as identify theft, against the victim.