Innovative Uses of Social Media to Combat Insurance Fraud, Improve the Insurance Experience

NEW YORK, Nov. 17, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- QBE North America, an operating division of global insurer QBE Insurance Group Limited, has released a new white paper titled "Innovations in Using Social Media to Fight Insurance Fraud, Improve Service."

Stories abound of how social media has opened an entirely new channel of communication for scammers willing to commit fraud, but insurance companies are increasingly turning the tables by using social media to detect fraudulent claims. The paper notes several examples of claimants publicly sharing facts of their lives on social media that contradict the basis of their claim, such as semi-pro athlete playing well in local sports leagues while collecting workers' compensation benefits.

"Finding new methods to fight fraud helps keep insurance premiums down for everyone," said Dan Franzetti, Chief Claims Officer, QBE North America. "Some studies suggest that as much as 10 percent of all property and casualty claims could have fraudulent elements, and leveraging the power of social media helps us more effectively and precisely identify instances of fraud to drive the cost out of the system."

The white paper notes that the most recent and best service approaches place considerable emphasis on interconnectivity between online information platforms such as social media, traditional websites, and public record databases. But with one billion new social media posts appearing every two days*, the massive volume of social media content is also its biggest challenge. To cope with this flood of information, cutting-edge carriers are now deploying big data analytical tools.

"There is an increasing array of powerful tools to help make sense of all the data," said Brian Wilson, VP, Special Investigations at QBE North America. "Text-mining software parses and analyzes unstructured text-based information. Social customer relationship management tools search millions of social media posts and platforms to find activity related to recent claims. Predictive modeling helps spot suspicious activities before fraudulent claims are paid. Social network analysis sifts through large amounts of data to uncover hidden relationships among people, places, locations, accounts or virtually any other type of entity. Lastly, the very best service providers have the ability to actively monitor for changes in the subject's profile or internet activity, while assuring a high confidence level in the results by removing false positive findings."

Beyond fighting fraud

The paper also notes that forward-thinking carriers are continuing to expand the ways social media can help improve the customer experience, such as:

• After a natural disaster, monitoring social media can help insurance companies identify the most affected areas and thus more quickly deploy loss mitigation and recovery resources.
• Similarly, social media information may reveal situations of increased risk and better enable insurance companies to suggest safety measures that could prevent loss.
• Finally, social media information can help the insurance company learn of developments that warrant updates in coverage, such as a home renovation project that requires builders' risk insurance.

QBE's new white paper on leveraging social media to fight insurance fraud and improve customers' insurance experience is available on QBE North America's website's Insights page.

About QBE 
QBE North America (QBE NA) is part of QBE Insurance Group Limited, one of the largest insurers and reinsurers worldwide. QBE NA reported Gross Written Premiums in 2015 of $4.6 billion. QBE Insurance Group's 2015 results can be found at www.qbena.com. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, QBE operates out of 37 countries around the globe, with a presence in every key insurance market. QBE NA, headquartered in New York, conducts business through its property and casualty insurance subsidiaries. QBE insurance companies are rated "A" (Excellent) by A.M. Best and "A+" by Standard & Poor's. Additional information can be found at www.qbena.com, or follow QBE North America on Twitter.

 *Sachin Pandhare, Big data analytics: New whistleblower on insurance fraud, InfoSys

SOURCE QBE North America

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