NICB Reports a 27 Percent Rise in Questionable Claims Since 2010

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Feb 12, 2013, 06:00 ET

2012 Referrals Reach All-Time High

DES PLAINES, Ill., Feb. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) today released its 2012 questionable claims (QC) referral reason analysis. Over the period from 2010 to 2012, there was a 26.7 percent increase in QCs referred to NICB, going from 91,797 in 2010 to 116,268 in 2012—a new record. In 2011, the total was 100,450.

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.

The report examines six referral reason categories of claims: property, casualty, commercial, workers' compensation, vehicle and miscellaneous referred in 2012, with those referred in 2010 and 2011.

Within the property category, "suspicious disappearance/loss of jewelry" had the highest percent change—up 86 percent, while "suspicious theft/loss (not vehicle)" had the highest increase in volume to 10,680 in 2012 from 7,152 reached in 2011. In the vehicle category, "hail damage" with 1,505 referrals and "suspicious hit while parked" with 5,006 referrals were the top two referral reasons.

In 2012, the top five states generating the most QCs were: California (21,935), Florida (10,693), Texas (10,368), New York (9,059) and Maryland (4,296).

Although there have been year-to-year increases in QCs, they represent a small percentage of the overall claims processed. Each year over 56 million claims are processed, making 2012 QCs just 0.20 percent of total claims. Moreover, while QCs are by definition suspicious, at the time of referral they have not been identified as definitive acts of fraud.

The full report is available here and the 2012 state QC totals are here.

Anyone with information concerning insurance fraud can report it anonymously by calling toll-free 1-800-TEL-NICB (1-800-835-6422), texting keyword "fraud" to TIP411 (847411) or by visiting our website at www.nicb.org. Or, iPhone or iPad users can download the NICB Fraud Tips app to make it easy to quickly send a tip and get a response.

About the National Insurance Crime Bureau: headquartered in Des Plaines, Ill., the NICB is the nation's leading not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to preventing, detecting and defeating insurance fraud and vehicle theft through data analytics, investigations, training, legislative advocacy and public awareness. The NICB is supported by more than 1,100 property and casualty insurance companies and self-insured organizations. NICB member companies wrote over $339 billion in insurance premiums in 2011, or approximately 80 percent of the nation's property/casualty insurance. That includes more than 94 percent ($156 billion) of the nation's personal auto insurance. To learn more visit www.nicb.org.

SOURCE National Insurance Crime Bureau