California Suspicious Insurance Claims Rise by 9% Since 2008

California has seen a 9 percent increase in suspicious insurance claims since 2008, according to a new report.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) said questionable claims originating in California and referred to NICB from Jan. 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2010, rose from 15,609 in 2008 to 17,082 reported in 2010. Member insurance companies referred 16,274 questionable claims from California to NICB in 2009.

Questionable claims are those claims that NICB member insurance companies refer to NICB for closer review and investigation based on one or more indicators of possible fraud. A single claim may contain up to seven referral reasons.

From 2008-2010, California spawned 20 percent of all of the questionable claims generated in the United States. Within California the top five cities posting the most questionable claims were Los Angeles (5,461), San Francisco (1,736), San Diego (1,627), Sacramento (1,361) and San Jose (1,301).

With respect to referral reasons, most were for “questionable vehicle theft” followed by “faked/exaggerated injury.” Under policy type, “personal automobile” was the single most cited policy generating 9,144 questionable claims in 2010 — 54 percent of all California questionable claims in 2010.

The full report is at: https://www.nicb.org/File%20Library/Public%20Affairs/CA-QCs08-10.pdf.

Source: National Insurance Crime Bureau

Topics California Trends Claims