NICB Reports 12% Rise in Third Quarter 2010 Questionable Claims

The National Insurance Crime Bureau today released its third quarter 2010 questionable claims (QC) referral reason analysis. The report examines six referral reason categories of claims—property, casualty, commercial, workers’ compensation, vehicle and miscellaneous.

Source: Source: NICB | Published on December 16, 2010

Through the third quarter of 2010, NICB received 70,295 QC referrals from its member insurance companies compared with 62,929 received in the same period of 2009—a 12 percent increase. 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.

Vehicle QC analysis disclosed that there were over 1,700 more referrals for suspected auto glass fraud in the third quarter of 2010—an increase of 511 percent—when compared with the third quarter of 2009. Referrals for inflated towing and storage bills this quarter were also up by more than 200—a 103 percent rise—compared with the same quarter in 2009.

“Criminals who commit insurance fraud believe in equal opportunity — they will commit fraud anytime and anyplace they choose,” said NICB President and CEO Joe Wehrle. “Auto glass fraud and towing-related scams are occurring across the nation, but criminals also look for the path of least resistance, so increasingly they are choosing states like Florida and New York where ‘no-fault’ insurance provides a fertile environment for auto-related personal injury protection scams.”