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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 3:15 am
Time: 3:15 am
Results for insurance fraud
7 results foundAuthor: Great Britain. National Audit Office Title: Agricultural Fraud: The Case of Joseph Bowden Summary: A National Audit Office report today highlights the lessons arising from the case of a farmer who committed one of the largest known frauds by an individual claiming subsidy under Common Agricultural Policy schemes in England. In October 2000 Joseph Bowden was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment for nine charges relating to false accounting and deception in respect of some £131,000 of public money and private insurance claims of some £26,000. Most of the charges were in respect of duplicate claims in 1994 to 1997 under the Arable Area Payments Scheme, administered by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (now the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and the Fibre Flax Subsidy Scheme, administered by the Intervention Board Executive Agency (now the Rural Payments Agency). Checking carried out by the Ministry and the Board at that time did not identify problems with the claims. For example: •map references included in documentation relating to fibre flax, meant some of the areas of land claimed for were not on the UK mainland, but in Iceland, Greenland or in the North Sea; •claims or declarations were made under the Arable Area Payments Scheme and the Fibre Flax Subsidy Scheme for harvested crops which in part covered the same areas of land; and •an ineligible claim for grant for building a barn under a European programme for encouraging business in rural areas only came to light, and payment was only prevented, through the chance transfer of one of the Ministry’s staff from the branch handling arable crop claims to the branch handling the rural business scheme. Mr Bowden's activities (involving claims under EU schemes and insurance policies amounting in total to some £600,000 over a 3 year period) started to come to light in May 1996 after a tip-off was passed to the Ministry. Whilst the tip-off was inaccurate, the field inspector sent to check the arable area claim was the same officer who the previous year had visited in connection with a fibre flax claim. An investigation by the Intervention Board's Anti-Fraud Unit began in 1996 and eventually led to charges in 1999. In 1996, the Ministry decided to delay recovery proceedings until after the outcome of any Court case. In November 1998 Mr Bowden was in financial difficulties and entered into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement with his creditors. By March 2000, MAFF had recovered only £1,325 under this arrangement. No further monies were received or expected and the Ministry has written off some £111,000 (amounts actually paid plus accrued interest) in respect of the offences on which he was found guilty. The Department and the Agency have introduced new controls over the operation of Common Agricultural Policy schemes to help prevent similar frauds in future. For example, there is now a single system which enables cross checks to be made for duplicate claims for the same areas of land; and map grid references are checked as a matter of routine. New systems under development by the Agency should increase the level and ease of automated checking. The report identifies the lessons from the case. These include: •the need for data matching and greater joined-up working where more than one branch or agency of the same government body are paying subsidies and awarding grants on common criteria, for example land usage; and •as far as data protection laws permit, staff responsible for administering schemes in other parts of the Department and its agencies should be notified at the earliest opportunity of suspicions about a claimant, and cross checks carried out to identify whether the person has submitted suspect claims under related schemes. Details: London: The Stationery Office, 2002. 29p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 28, 2012 at: http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/0102/agricultural_fraud.aspx Year: 2002 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/0102/agricultural_fraud.aspx Shelf Number: 124301 Keywords: Agricultural Crime (U.K.)Insurance Fraud |
Author: Blanton, Kimberly Title: The Rise of Financial Fraud Summary: Individuals save for decades to ensure that they will have financial security in retirement. That security can be threatened or eliminated virtually overnight if an individual who is in or near retirement becomes the victim of a financial fraud, such as a Ponzi scheme or sham investment in high-yield securities. Fueled by the Internet, the incidence of financial fraud is on the rise. Law enforcement officials and fraud experts expect the trend to continue or accelerate as aging baby boomers increasingly become targets. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Americans in 2011 submitted more than 1.5 million complaints about financial and other fraud – up 62 percent in just three years. But these data do not fully represent fraud’s pervasiveness, because researchers say that it often goes unreported to the authorities. Identifying the patterns of fraud can be helpful because scams and the con men who perpetrate them, once identified, are more easily recognized by a potential victim. This brief discusses fraud trends and describes some of the patterns. The first section documents the surge in fraud. The second section identifies what is driving this increase. The third section explains why seniors are often targets of fraud. The fourth section defines four major categories of financial-product fraud. The fifth section reports three of the many disguises used by scammers to persuade their targets to purchase investments or financial products. The conclusion is that all Americans, especially older Americans, should learn how to recognize the signs of fraud. Details: Chestnut Hill, MA: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, 2011. 8p. Source: Brief IB No. 12-5: Internet Resource: Accessed March 9, 2012 at http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Briefs/IB_12-5.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Briefs/IB_12-5.pdf Shelf Number: 124410 Keywords: Elderly VictimsFinancial FraudInsurance Fraud |
Author: Blanton, Kimberly Title: The Rise of Financial Fraud: Scams Never Change but Disguises Do Summary: Americans submitted nearly 1.1 million complaints about financial and other fraud in 2010 – a 35 percent increase in just three years. But scammers may be difficult to recognize, because they constantly alter their disguises. A primary goal of this report is to provide insight into the disguises con men use to perpetrate their age-old fraud schemes and to recruit their potential targets, who may be retirees, members of the military, college students, the unemployed, homebuyers, investors, low-income families, among others. Some con men, for example, position themselves as a sort of rescue squad, swooping in during a natural or man-made disaster and offering a product or business opportunity to ameliorate the crisis – and bring untold wealth to investors. Others infiltrate churches where they claim to be doing God’s work. Church-based scams are the most common form of “affinity fraud,” which occurs when con men exploit an interest shared by many potential victims, whether a religious belief or country club membership. There are affinity scams against Iranian-Americans, Cubans in Miami, Spanish speakers, Haitian immigrants, and Muslims, to name a few. Fraudulent subprime mortgage brokers who were immigrants made loans to homeowners who came from the home country and spoke the same language. Cloaked in new skins, con men appeal to an individuals’ weak spot: a desperate shortage of money before payday, a need to earn more than the yield on their certificate of deposit, a need for cash to pay medical bills. But awareness of these disguises can prevent fraud by helping individuals recognize and steer clear of it. Details: Chestnut Hill, MA: Financial Security Project at Boston College, 2012. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 9, 2012 at http://fsp.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Scams-RFTF.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://fsp.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Scams-RFTF.pdf Shelf Number: 124411 Keywords: Elderly VictimsFinancial FraudInsurance Fraud |
Author: Fuller, David L. Title: Unemployment Insurance Fraud and Optimal Monitoring Summary: The most prevalent incentive problem in the U.S. unemployment insurance system is that individuals collect unemployment benefits while being gainfully employed. We show how the unemployment insurance authority can efficiently use a combination of tax/subsidy and monitoring to prevent such fraud. The optimal policy monitors the unemployed at fixed intervals. Employment tax is nonmonotonic: it increases between verifications but decreases after a verification. Unemployment benefits are relatively flat between verifications but decrease sharply after a verification. Details: St. Louis, MO: Federal Research Bank of St. Louis, 2012. 41p. Source: Internet Resource:Working Paper 2012-024A: Accessed August 6, 2012 at: http://research.stlouisfed.org/wp/2012/2012-024.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://research.stlouisfed.org/wp/2012/2012-024.pdf Shelf Number: 125868 Keywords: Insurance FraudUnemployment and CrimeUnemployment Insurance |
Author: Insurance Fraud Bureau Title: Crash for Cash: Putting the Brakes on Fraud Summary: Definition: to stage or deliberately cause a road traffic collision solely for the purpose of financial gain. Costing around $400m a year, 'Crash for Cash' scams are run by fraudsters who manufacture collisions, sometimes with innocent road users, hoping to profit from fraudulent insurance claims. With claims from a single collision potentially worth tens of thousands of pounds, organised fraudsters are orchestrating scams that involve multiple collisions and can be worth millions of pounds. Details: London(?): IFB, 2014. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 23, 2015 at: https://www.insurancefraudbureau.org/media/1036/ifb_crash_for_cash_report_online.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.insurancefraudbureau.org/media/1036/ifb_crash_for_cash_report_online.pdf Shelf Number: 135771 Keywords: Financial CrimesInsurance FraudTraffic Accidents |
Author: McLain, Andrea Title: Organized Group Activity in Insurance Fraud: 2008-June 2012 Summary: According to NICB, organized crime group generate millions of dollars annually through fraudulent insurance schemes within the US. NICB defines organized crime groups as "any specific group made up of entities and/or individuals who systematically and repeatedly conduct pre-planned activities for the purpose of generating fraudulent insurance schemes". In this NICB ForeCAST Report, a quantitative analysis of organized crime in insurance fraud was conducted with the use of the Organized Group/Ring Activity (OGA) Referral Reason. When NICB member companies refer claims to the NICB Questionable Claims, the submission may include up to 7 Referral Reasons. As the OGA Referral Reason is an indicator of the possible involvement of organized crime in insurance fraud, all Questionable Claims (QCs) that were referred between 2008 and June 30, 2012, regardless of Date of Loss (DOL), with OGA as any one of the seven potential Referral Reasons were pulled from ISO ClaimSearch. Results in which almost all fields were left blank were removed from this study. It is important to also note that ISO ClaimSearch is a multifaceted database where different insurance companies are continually inputting new information. Standards, procedures, or practices relating to the identification of fraud, the selection of referral reasons, and the submission of QCs in ISO ClaimSearch may not be completely uniform between NICB member companies. This ForeCAST is organized into 2 sections: "The Scope of the Problem" and "Insurance Classifications". "The Scope of the Problem" includes analyses of OGA QCs by: Year, Month, Loss State, and Loss City. "Insurance Classifications" discuss the descriptive fields pertaining to insurance lines of business. Sections under "Insurance Classifications" include analysis of OGA QCs by: Policy Type, Loss Type, and OGA QC additional Referral Reasons. Throughout a majority of the tables, figures, and analyses of this report, totals are calculated from 2008 through June 2012 and appear in "Red", all percentage changes are calculated from 2008 through 2011 (unless specified otherwise) and appear in "Blue", and all information regarding the first half of 2012 is followed by an asterisk as a reminder that it is incomplete data. Also, all percents were rounded to the nearest whole number. Exactly 13,014 QCs were identified with the OGA referral reason in ISO ClaimSearch from 2008 through June 2012. In summary, the analysis of OGA QC referral submissions from 2008 through June 2012 yielded the following results: The number of OGA QC referrals per referral year has increased by 47% from 2008 to 2011, and is likely to continue on par from 2011 to 2012 despite a decrease from 2010 to 2011. OGA QCs were referred at a rate of 8 per day. Florida was the state with both the most OGA QC referral submissions by volume and the highest rate of OGA QCs per 100,000 persons. Notably, the city with the most OGA QCs was Los Angeles, CA, followed by New York, NY. The vast majority of OGA QCs were referred on personal automobile policies where the loss involved bodily injury, personal injury protection, or collision. Lastly, the Referral Reason that was selected in combination with the OGA referral reason most often was Staged/Caused Accident. Details: Des Plaines, IL: National Insurance Crime Bureau, 2012. 11p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 19, 2017 at: https://www.nicb.org/newsroom/news-releases/organized-crime-and-insurance-fraud Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://www.nicb.org/newsroom/news-releases/organized-crime-and-insurance-fraud Shelf Number: 147391 Keywords: Insurance FraudOrganized CrimeWhite-Collar Crime |
Author: U.S. Fire Administration Title: Attacking the Violent Crime of Arson: A Report on Americas Fire Investigation Units Summary: "How's a little fire, Scarecrow?" queried the Wicked Witch of the West before hurling a fireball at the frightened straw man in The Wizard of Oz. Using fire as a weapon is not just the stuff of movies, but a real-life ocurrence in communities across the United States. Commonly, the crime of arson is motivated by spite and revenge. Perpetrators strike with fire at buildings where people live, work, or socialize--causing injury, property loss, and death. Civilians and firefighters alike die in arson fires every year. Thirty years ago, arson captured media attention because so-called arson-for-profit rings were burning down decaying urban neighborhoods that had ceased to be profitable, and then rebuilding them at a substantial profit. Other high-profile cases involved arsonists who were connected to gangs and drug lords, and who set fires to intimidate their rivals or as retribution for deals gone bad. Some of the most publicized cases occurred in the cities of New York, Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Baltimore, and others. There even were situations where neighborhood vigilantes, who were frustrated with crime and run-down buildings, took it upon themselves to torch structures to rid the neighborhood of vagrants, prostitutes, and drug dealers. Insurance companies were perceived as the main victims from intentional fires. As a crime committed against property, the economics of arson played center stage to the less well-defined statistics on injuries and deaths. Since arson fires do, on average, cause proportionately higher losses than fires from other causes, insurance companies committed many resources toward investigation and control. From establishing tip reward programs, training accelerant detection canines (ADCs), supporting arson reporting immunity legislation, and establishing the property insurance loss register (PILR), the insurance industry was a strong partner at that time. There is a dichotomy between arson as a property crime and arson as a crime against people, and that lies at the heart of today's challenges with cases of arson. As a crime, arson's long-standing definition as the willful and malicious burning of property does not do justice to the fact that today arson is usually a personal crime that is directed intentionally against specific victims. It is time for arson to be dealt with as a violent crime against persons, not just a crime against property. Today, spite and revenge dominate as the motives in intentional property fires, especially where there are casualties. Revenge-minded arsonists torch nightclubs, occupied residences, hotels, and other settings where their intended victims, and often other innocent people, are injured and killed. First responders get injured or die battling these blazes and trying to save others. Even though a portion of incendiary fires are motivated by other reasons (e.g., excitement, economic relief, peer pressure, a cry for help, and so forth) most set fires happen because someone wanted to inflict harm on another person using fire as the weapon of choice. Fire investigation units from The U.S. Fire Administrations (USFA's) project indicated that spite and revenge were the most common motives behind incendiary fires. Among project sites from the past 5 years, spite and revenge ranked as the highest leading motives, when investigation units were queried about prevailing motives. Criminal fires are the second leading cause of residential fires, and the number-one cause of non-residential structure fires. When firesetters employ accelerants to spread fire rapidly, or when they use multiple fire sets, the scene becomes even more dangerous. Responding personnel face high risks, sometimes paying with their lives. Over a 10-year period, from 1994 through 2003, there were 88 firefighter deaths in connection with incendiary and suspicious fires -- almost 9 percent of all firefighter on-duty deaths. That arson is a violent crime is apparent. Funding that adequately supports investigations, training, and prosecution is essential. The USFA supported State and local arson control units for 16 years, working to improve coordination among fire, police, and the court system and to build stronger fire investigation units. The Fire and Arson Investigation Technical Assistance Program served 143 State and local fire investigation units. It concentrated on facilitating multiagency cooperation and information sharing as well as clarifying operational roles. This report compiles the best practices and common problems of fire protection and criminal justice agencies in identifying, investigating, prosecuting, and preventing arson. Trends, current challenges, and best practices are discussed. The first part of the report, Section 1 provides national data on arson, information that shows why the crime of arson needs the sustained attention of State and local elected, appointed, and public safety officials. Section 2 of this report describes USFA's technical assistance program and identifies the participating jurisdictions. Best practices are highlighted in Section 3, and in the last section, Section 4, a unique data management and intelligence-sharing project in Tennessee is showcased as a solution for the future. Details: Washington, DC: Fire Administration, 2004. 72p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 26, 2018 at https://www.hsdl.org/?search=&searchfield=&all=crime+of+arson&collection=documents&submitted=Search Year: 2004 Country: United States URL: https://www.hsdl.org/?search=&searchfield=&all=crime+of+arson&collection=documents&submitted=Search Shelf Number: 151701 Keywords: Arson Arson-for-Profit Criminal Investigation Fires Insurance Fraud |