David Morse & Associates - Fighting Insurance Fraud Helps Consumers

"At any given moment, newspapers in dozens of cities across the U.S. feature stories about insurance fraud," says Tom Reitze, President of David Morse & Associates (www.davidmorse.com), providers of third-party administrator services, field adjusting services, specialty claims services, and fraud investigations. "Most consumers don't realize that 25 percent of their insurance premiums are ultimately used to pay fraudulent claims."

Indeed, in San Jose, Calif., 25 people in an auto fraud ring were recently indicted for allegedly staging and reporting two dozen fake car accidents during a five-year period, bilking insurance companies out of an estimated $400,000. David Morse & Associates and other companies provided critical information that led to the arrests and indictments. In Bridgeport, Conn., a woman was recently convicted of torching her home in order to collect from her homeowner's insurance policy. And, in Sutton, Mass., a man pleaded guilty to worker's compensation fraud for collecting $70,000 in disability benefits while secretly working in a physically demanding job.

According to Reitze, David Morse & Associates is committed to combating insurance fraud, which ultimately helps consumers by keeping insurance premiums in check. "The premise of insurance is pooled risk, but when the bad guys bilk insurance companies, honest people suffer through higher premiums," he says. "That's why our fraud investigation unit prides itself in catching fraudsters in the act."

Reitze readily recalls any number of claims where David Morse & Associates fraud investigators and adjustors employed dogged legwork, quick thinking, and expertise to keep their clients from being defrauded and help honest consumers in the process.

In one instance, a David Morse & Associates investigator was assigned to a person alleging total disability who happened to live in a rural farming community. The investigator was inventive in locating the residence of the man, but when he was not at home, the investigator had to turn to townspeople for help. The investigator was told that the "disabled" claimant was building a house in a nearby town. Reitze points out with pride, "Although the investigator was required to videotape the man, he found himself in the midst of fields, with no place to hide his vehicle. Using his imagination, he staged a vehicle breakdown on the side of the highway, and managed to capture video of the man bouncing around over rough ground on a tractor and manhandling bales of hay. Thanks to the inventiveness of the investigator, the videotape was enough to end the disability claim of the farmer."

In another situation, a David Morse & Associates truck adjustor found himself at odds with the California Highway Patrol. After a tractor-trailer collided with a van and overturned on a Los Angeles freeway, the CHP made a determination that the rig had been speeding. Although the adjustor knew that the truck had an engine governor that prevented it from speeding, the CHP wouldn't budge, exposing the trucking company to a million-dollar liability suit. The relentless adjustor duplicated the conditions with a replica truck and load, and had a CHP expert ride along, which convinced the CHP that the truck wasn't speeding. Following his suspicion the van was actually backing up on the freeway when it was hit, the adjustor consulted with David Morse & Associates' reconstruction engineer. His theory was confirmed when the lab discovered the telltale signs of stretched filaments in the van's taillights, indicating that the van had been in reverse and the backup lights were on at the time of impact. Because of the adjustor's diligence, the million-dollar claim was arbitrated for a relatively small amount.

Notes Reitze, "The adjustors at David Morse & Associates know that doing the right thing also means stepping in and helping people who are legitimately injured." When they do so, it often helps both the injured person and David Morse & Associates' insurance client.

As an example, a truck driver was making a turn and didn't see a pedestrian in the crosswalk. The truck screeched to a halt, but the man was knocked backwards and struck his head on the pavement. The David Morse & Associates adjustor arrived on the scene quickly, only to find passersby surrounding the man trying to get him an attorney. Although the man refused ambulance services, the adjustor could see that he was shaken and concerned. The adjustor quickly came up with a solution and drove the pedestrian to the Emergency Room himself. Moreover, the adjustor arranged for the client's Safety Director to pay for the $2,000 medical bill. The pedestrian was given a clean bill of health and was pleased with the outcome and attention he received.

The corporate culture at David Morse & Associates can be summed up by the maxim, "doing well by doing good." With 42 branches in 16 states, the company values the expeditious and personalized service they provide to their clients. "In the process, we do our part to help fight insurance fraud, which benefits both insurance companies and consumers," concludes Reitze.

Kris Nickerson
http://www.articlesbase.com

How Insurance Fraud Affects you

If you have tried to renew your home or car insurance recently you may well have noticed insurance premiums starting to increase. One of the main contributing factors in this increase is a rise in fraudulent insurance claims.

Fraudulent claims are made mostly on home and car insurance policies and according to the Association of British Insurers false claims cost UK insurance companies some £1.6billion a year.

So how does this affect you? While insurance companies have indicated a commitment to tackling the issue the fact remains that the problem costs them around £4million a day. This loss has to be recouped in some way and in many instances is passed onto the consumer. You are effectively paying for the fraudulent actions of other people; on average the impact of fraudulent claims adds around £40 onto your insurance premiums.

When it comes to car insurance you are effectively being hit with a double whammy. Not only are you paying for other peoples fraudulent activities but you are also paying to cover the UK’s growing number of uninsured drivers.

With these two factors forcing up the cost of car insurance it is no surprise that some people are noticing a rise in their premiums. These price increases are commonly found in the renewal letter sent by your insurance company.

However, rather than simply accept the increase you have the option to act and switch you car insurance to another provider. The car insurance market is fiercely competitive with companies eager to increase their customer base. You, the customer, can use this to your advantage. An online search for car insurance can quickly illustrate the possible savings you make by moving to another insurance company.

If, like many other honest individuals, you are unwilling to pay for other people’s insurance fraud you can put pressure on your insurance company by switching your motor insurance to another provider. You could even make a worthwhile saving in the process.

Peter Ecob
http://www.articlesbase.com

Life Insurance Fraud

Ha. These are the schemes that make great movies and great television show plots. Here are some of those we've seen.

1. Crooks will take out an insurance policy on themselves and then fake their own death. How does that happen? Most of them travel to another country and then support their death claim with fraudulent documents. Very few are successful because insurance companies routinely investigate all foreign death claims.

2. A somewhat recent case involved a man who wanted to disappear from the radar screen because he didn't want to go to jail. It seemed so much easier to die, at least on paper, so he and his wife went to a pauper's cemetery and dug up a recently buried body. They put the body into the husband's car, drenched the whole thing in gasoline, then pushed it over a cliff. The car and body was burned beyond recognition, and the widow said, "oh my, it was my dear husband because he never came home last night and that was our car ..." She promptly buried the charred remains of her husband and filed a life insurance claim. Relatives got suspicious when she quickly found a new boyfriend who looking strikingly similar to her dead husband. The Police launched an investigation and the scam was discovered. Both are currently serving well-deserved jail sentences.

3. Too often people really do die. Wives kill (or hire it out) husbands and husbands kill wives. Children kill parents and parents kill children. All for the proceeds of an insurance policy.


Dead or Alive?

Shortly after 911, insurance companies began receiving claims. Adjusters were trying to expedite payments to families that had lost loved ones. In one case, a claims representative drove to the deceased's house, hoping to assure the grieving widow that a check would be forthcoming. Imagine his surprise when the deceased answered the door.

Following any disaster, opportunists attempt frauds. People who are alive and insured see an opportunity to report themselves dead. The World Trade Center, the Tsunami or Katrina. Any excuse works for them.

Do YOU appreciate having to pay higher premiums to fund these people?


Viatical Fraud

Perhaps one of the most deadly of all, viatical fraud is shocking enough to be the subject of a Hollywood action movie. Because it's not been publicized, few people have any idea of what it is.
What is a viatical policy?

Think of it as a reverse home mortgage.

Let's say that Joe has a $500,000 life insurance policy. He is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and given six months to live. If Joe wants to have a six month party, cruise around the world, or even seek alternative medical treatment in some far off country, he needs money. His life insurance policy is money.

Joe can sell his policy to a viatical company. They will give him a certain amount of cash, right now, and he will (in turn) make them the beneficiary. The amount of cash he is given depends upon how long he will live ... and the company can get their "return on investment."

The viatical marketplace got very big at the time that AIDS was killing so many people. Those who were dying of AIDS were selling their policies, enjoying the money, and then dying "on schedule." Business was booming.

But then extensive research gave way to many new drug cocktails, and AIDS patients were suddenly NOT dying. Companies (or individuals) who had purchased their life insurance policies as a financial investment were not getting their expected returns. Instead, they were out considerable sums of money, and had no relief in sight unless the owner of the life insurance policy dropped dead.

Where was the fraud? Murder. In too many cases, the alive and well victims were hastened to the grave via gunshot, car accident, fire or worse. Since they had not died "on schedule," they were helped along by a hired gun. Once dead, the viatical company could collect on the life insurance policy and the investors could get paid. Dirty business. Scary business.


Murder For Money

It's not unusual to see a story like the one that recently occurred in California. What was unusual, however, was the ages of the perpetrators and the uniqueness of their scam.

Two women, ages 75 and 73, found a way to supplement their social security retirement income. Murder.

Here's what they did:

First they'd find a homeless person. They'd befriend him and help him get on his feet. They'd buy him some new clothes, get him an apartment ... and INSURE HIM with themselves named as the beneficiaries. Then they'd run him over with a car and file the claim.

Both are in jail right now awaiting trial. Both are facing the death penalty for premeditated murder. Two men are dead as a result of their plot.

http://www.fightfraudamerica.com

Examples of Homeowners’ Insurance Fraud:

• Staging a phony burglary or vehicle break-in and faking a loss
• Overstating the value of stolen items after an actual burglary of a home or vehicle
• Lying about the extent, cause, date or location of legitimate damage
• Intentionally damaging property
• Making a second claim for a loss that was already paid for by another insurer or through a prior claim
• Asking a repairman to "cover your deductible" within their estimate.
• Fabricating supporting evidence — often in collusion with a crooked contractor, plumber, repairman or insurance adjuster.

Thanks to:
http://www.helpstopfraud.org

Workers’ Compensation Insurance Fraud include two sets of crimes:

Examples of claims fraud include a worker who:

• Fakes an injury at work to get paid time off
• Exaggerates the severity of a legitimate injury to extend time away from work
• Claims an injury occurred on the job when it actually occurred elsewhere

• An injured worker obtains another job and lies to the insurance company about being unable to return to work. In essence, he collects two paychecks.

Examples of premium fraud include an employer who:

• Understates the amount of company payroll to reduce premium payments
• Claims employees are independent contractors
• Classifies employees with improper job codes that carry lower premiums
• Fails to carry workers’ compensation insurance.

Thanks to:
http://www.helpstopfraud.org

Examples of Auto Insurance Fraud include:

• Staged accidents, where one or more criminals cause intentional collisions in order to get undeserved payments for health care costs for alleged injuries or vehicle damage.
• Providing false information to an insurance company about a car’s mileage or use.
• Phony injury claims, when people lie about the injuries they have sustained in an accident.
• Inflated damage claims, in which criminals falsify the extent of damage or the true cost of repairs to their vehicles.
• Phony thefts, where the owner simply abandons a vehicle and then claims it was stolen (known as an "owner give-up").
• Falsely claiming a one-car accident was a "hit and run."
• Inventing injuries to people who were not in a vehicle at the time of the accident (people known as "jump-ins")
• Driving and getting into an accident when you are uninsured. Then obtaining insurance and falsely stating the date and time of the accident in an effort to have the claim paid.

Thanks to:
www.helpstopfraud.org

Examples of Health Insurance Fraud:

• Doctors billing insurers for a more costly service than the one performed (also called "upcoding")
• Providing services such as tests, surgeries or other procedures that are not medically necessary to get additional payment
• Billing for services not actually rendered (often using genuine patient names to fabricate entire claims)
• Billing each stage in a procedure as if it were a separate procedure (known as "unbundling")
• Accepting kickbacks for referrals
• Organized criminals setting up a phony clinic solely to generate fraudulent claims
• Patients forging receipts to get unwarranted reimbursement from an insurance company
• Patients embellishing, adding to or just plain lying about services received
• Patients who ask their doctors to falsify a report to an insurer to cover a non-covered procedure
• Patients who ask a doctor to waive their copayments

Thanks to:
http://www.helpstopfraud.org

Watch out — insurance crooks are picking your pocket in order to line theirs. These thieves are committing insurance fraud, one of America’s largest criminal industries. Insurance fraud is a crime, and one way or another, honest consumers and businesses pay the price.

Insurance fraud occurs every day and in every state. People of all races, incomes and ages are victimized. Insurance fraud costs Americans at least $80 billion a year, or nearly $950 for each family, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud estimates.

But look beyond the high dollar costs… you’ll also see honest, hardworking Americans whose lives, businesses, careers and families are damaged or even ruined by insurance fraud crimes.

People lose their savings. Trusting citizens are bilked out of thousands of dollars, often their entire life savings, by insurance investment schemes. The elderly are especially vulnerable.

Health is endangered. People’s health and lives are endangered by swindlers who sell nonexistent health policies or perform quack medical care to illegally inflate health insurance claims.

Premiums stay high. Auto and homeowner insurance prices stay high because insurance companies must pass the large costs of insurance fraud to policyholders.

Consumer goods cost more. Prices of goods at your department or grocery store keep rising when businesses pass higher costs of their health and commercial insurance onto customers.

Honest businesses lose money. Businesses lose millions in income annually because fraud increases their costs for employee health coverage and business insurance.

Innocent people are killed and maimed. People die from insurance schemes such as staged auto accidents and arson — including children and entire families. People and even animals also are murdered for life insurance money.

Employees lose jobs. People lose jobs, careers and health coverage when insurance companies go bankrupt after being looted by fraud thieves.

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What is Fraud?

Insurance fraud occurs when people deceive an insurance company or agent to collect money to which they aren’t entitled. Similarly, insurers and agents also can defraud consumers, or even each other. Insurance fraud can be "hard" or "soft."

Hard Fraud. Someone deliberately fakes an accident, injury, theft, arson or other loss to collect money illegally from insurance companies. Crooks often act alone, but increasingly, organized crime rings stage large schemes that steal millions of dollars.

Soft Fraud. Normally honest people often tell "little white lies" to their insurance company. Many people think it’s just harmless fudging. But soft fraud is a crime, and raises everyone’s insurance costs. Consider…

A car owner inflates a fender bender claim to cover her deductible, or she understates how many miles she drives annually to lower her auto premium… A homeowner inflates the value of his stereo equipment stolen during a robbery… Or a printing business lists fewer employees than it really has in order to pay lower workers compensation premiums.

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Fraud is Big

Insurance fraud is hard to measure because so much goes undetected, and complete research has yet to be done. Still, we have enough evidence to know that fraud is widespread — and expensive.

Healthcare fraud alone costs Americans $54 billion a year, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud estimates.

More than one third of people hurt in auto accidents exaggerate their injuries. This adds $13-$18 billion to America’s annual insurance bill, notes a study by the Rand Institute for Civil Justice.

Nearly one third of doctors exaggerate the severity of a patient’s illness to help the patient avoid early discharge from a hospital, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Why Is Fraud So Big?

Insurers sometimes back off. Most insurance companies take a tough stand against fraud, but some companies unwittingly encourage fraud by paying suspicious claims too easily. These companies believe it’s cheaper to pay some smaller suspect claims than fight in court, and a quick payoff also may avoid multimillion-dollar lawsuits for bad faith.

Health system is an easy target. America’s health care system is huge and vulnerable. The sheer number of patients and treatments plus complexity of billing attract cons who are skilled at looting our overworked health care system. The pressure to control costs also encourages many doctors or health firms to cheat so they can recoup lost profits or meet rigorous treatment quotas.

Immigrants are vulnerable. Insurance cheats consider America’s large and growing immigrant groups easy targets. Asian and Hispanic communities, for example, report extensive insurance fraud as con artists prey on immigrants’ trust, lack of English skills and ignorance of how insurance works.

Low-Risk Crime. Insurance cheaters view insurance fraud as a low-risk, high-reward game, and far safer than drug trafficking or armed robbery. Consider:

• Six states still don’t have specific insurance fraud laws, thus discouraging many prosecutors from tackling tough fraud cases.
  
  
• Courts are getting tougher on convicted schemers, but too often jail sentences still are light, with courts often reserving space in overcrowded prisons for people convicted of more-violent crimes.
  
  
• Professional societies overseeing doctors and lawyers often are reluctant to discipline peers convicted of insurance fraud.

Low Legal Priority. Prosecutors often give top priority to combating drugs, violence and other high-profile crimes. Though prosecutors are tackling more fraud cases than in the early 1990s, too many prosecutors still believe insurance crimes often are too complex and technical to successfully prosecute.

People Tolerate Fraud. Too many consumers believe insurance fraud is justified. This environment of tolerance makes it much easier for con artists to operate safely. Research by the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud reveals:

• Two of three Americans tolerate insurance fraud to varying degrees;
  
  
• Two of five Americans want little or no punishment for insurance cheats; they blame the insurance industry for its fraud problems because they believe insurers are unfair.

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All Shapes and Sizes

Insurance fraud comes in all shapes and sizes. Here are several examples…

Staged Auto Accidents. Juan and Maria Lopez and their 2-year-old daughter Joanna were burned alive during an auto accident two men staged on the Long Beach (Calif.) freeway to collect insurance money in 1997. The scammers suddenly stopped in front of a tractor trailer the Lopezes were following. A gravel truck then rammed the Lopezes from behind, killing the young family instantly. Isidorio Medina Gomez and Esteban Galves Solano each received 11 years in state prison in 1998.

Arson. Helen Tidwell hired two local teenagers to torch her Tampa restaurant, Gram’s Country Kitchen, so she could collect insurance money in 1996. But fumes from the gasoline the boys poured in the restaurant accidentally ignited, causing an explosion. One boy died and the other was permanently scarred. Tidwell received 30 years in prison in 1999.

Health Insurance Fraud (corporate). Columbia/HCA Healthcare has agreed to pay at least $754 million after overbilling taxpayer-funded Medicare for years. If the deal stands, it will be the largest healthcare fraud settlement in U.S. history. The chain (now named HCA) billed Medicare for unneeded lab tests, improper diagnoses to make patients seem sicker than they were, and disguising unreimbursable expenses as reimbursable. Criminal charges still are pending.

Health Insurance Fraud (individual). Massachusetts orthopedic surgeon Harold Goodman routinely gave patients potentially harmful X-rays and steroid injections they didn’t need so he could falsely bill Medicaid. Goodman spent as few as five minutes with each patient, giving one patient 74 X-rays and 112 steroid injections in less than three years. Goodman received six months in prison in 2000.

Faked Death. Bonnie McCaslin bought 78 life insurance policies on her ex-husband Timothy, who knew nothing about the policies. She then tried to collect $11 million from dozens of life insurance companies by claiming he died in an earthquake in Mexico in 1995. McCaslin received two years in jail in Nebraska, but blames Timothy for not cooperating with her ruse. "He’s such a jerk. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be in here," she told Forbes magazine.

Murder for Insurance. Dina Abdelhaq suffocated her seven-week-old daughter Tara to collect $200,000 in life insurance money to feed her gambling addiction in 1995. Jobless and on welfare, the Illinois resident was deeply in debt from riverboat gambling. Tara died in her crib just two weeks after Abdelhaq took out a life policy on the child. Abdelhaq received 21 years in prison for insurance fraud in 2000.

Insurer Fraud. Thousands of investors, many of them retirees left almost penniless, were financially devastated when National Heritage Life Insurance Co. collapsed in 1995 after being looted of $450 million by company insiders. The insiders lived lavish lifestyles while retirees who invested in the company lost their entire life savings. Four major players were convicted in 1999, and dozens more are charged in America’s largest insurer insolvency caused by fraud.

Property Insurance. California software distributor Irwin Bransky had a lot of useless merchandise on his hands. So when the Northridge earthquake struck California in 1994, Bransky ordered employees to jump on the software packages and bend them with their hands to inflate an insurance claim. Bransky filed a $5-million claim, and the insurer paid $840,000 before an employee blew the whistle. Bransky received 51 months in prison in 1998.

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Fighting Back

Insurance Companies Respond

• Fraud-busting units. Most insurers have made fighting fraud a priority, more than tripling anti-fraud spending in recent years. Most insurers have created special fraud-busting units, often staffed by former detectives and police officers.
  
  
• Educate consumers. Many insurers actively educate consumers how to detect and protect against fraud, and often sponsor active fraud hotlines so people can phone in tips.
  
  
• Train employees. Most insurers train employees and alert insurance agents to spot fraud.
  
  
• Track down cheaters. Insurers also sponsor the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). The NICB is increasing the number of fraud convictions by gathering detailed data about suspected fraud crimes, and referring them for prosecution. The NICB also runs a national consumer fraud hotline.

States Increase Pressure

• More fraud bureaus. State insurance regulators have created 37 fraud bureaus in 45 states, whose job is to investigate and hunt down fraud.
  
  
• Closer scrutiny of companies. State regulators have created a model law that makes it harder for con artists to set up fake insurance companies. Many states also are scrutinizing insurance company finances and market practices more closely.
  
  
• Tougher fraud laws. Increased crackdowns in the 1990s uncovered far more insurance fraud than anyone realized existed. To give prosecutors better legal tools to convict crooks, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud developed a tough model state fraud law. Some 15 states have adopted or strengthened their insurance fraud laws based on the coalition’s model. Among other provisions, this model:

  - creates state fraud bureaus that help hunt down fraud artists and build strong cases against them. Many fraud bureaus even have power to subpoena and fine crooks.

  - requires insurance companies to develop thorough plans for preventing and detecting fraud.

  - requires insurance applications and claim forms to warn that fraud is a serious crime.

  - provides immunity to insurers when sharing fraud information with other insurers, investigators and law enforcement.

Feds Tighten Up

Tougher health fraud penalties. Stopping widespread Medicare and Medicaid fraud is a special focus of federal efforts. Congress has enacted tougher penalties and expanded current federal health insurance fraud laws to cover all payers.

More pressure on white-collar crooks. Federal law imposes stiff prison terms and fines for white-collar criminals who loot insurance companies. The law also heavily penalizes anyone who gives false financial information to state insurance regulators, and forbids convicted insurance felons from returning to insurance without permission.

Information sharing. The federal government and health insurers share fraud info on a large scale, thus helping them discover hundreds of hidden schemes and build stronger cases for prosecution. The Justice Department began sharing with health insurers its own field intelligence about health frauds with health insurance companies in 2000. The federal government further tightens the net by collecting and sharing vast amounts of data covering convictions and other actions against health providers under a landmark 1996 federal law.

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Report Card: Progress?

The nation’s improved fraud-fighting efforts are working. More insurance crooks are being convicted every year, and billions of dollars stolen from honest citizens and businesses are being recovered. Precise figures aren’t available, but growing evidence shows real progress on many fronts. Consider:

State fraud prosecutions have tripled over the last three years, according to a new study of state fraud bureaus by the coalition.

Nearly nine of 10 fraud cases lead to convictions in Massachusetts.

Healthcare insurers have saved policyholders more than $11 for every dollar spent fighting fraud, a 50-percent increase over 1995, notes the Health Insurance Association of America.

Fewer people believe it’s ok to inflate insurance claims by small amounts to recoup their deductible or premiums, according to the Insurance Research Council.

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The Future: Still Dangerous

Despite the encouraging progress, insurance fraud will remain a vast and dangerous criminal enterprise. Here are several fraud trends consumers should know about:

The Internet will hatch new insurance swindles as computer-savvy consumers buy from online insurance companies that may be virtually untraceable. Young people raised on the Internet will be the vanguard of this crime wave.

The global economy is igniting huge insurance money-laundering schemes, often involving fake insurers that bilk people out of millions. Tracking them across international borders will pose a big problem for U.S. law enforcement.

The large population bulge of aging Boomers needing more medical attention will keep health fraud near the forefront of the largest and costliest fraud crimes.

Insurance fraud against immigrants will remain a serious problem as diverse ethnic groups continue migrating to the U.S. Many fraud crimes will be committed by fraud rings or organized mafias of immigrants themselves.

The elderly will remain one of the largest targets of insurance swindles. Investment schemes are among the newest approaches: Thousands of seniors are investing in bogus viaticals – life insurance policies that don’t exist or were obtained illegally. Many seniors also are investing in fake promissory notes sold by insurance agents and guaranteed by non-existent insurance companies.

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Everyone’s Solution

Everyone pays for insurance fraud, and so everyone must join in stamping out these swindles. Consumers, lawmakers, insurance companies, doctors, lawyers and many more must be part of the answer. Insurance fraud will disappear only when criminals realize fraud is a fast highway to jail, not an easy road to riches.

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Protect Yourself: Stay Alert

You can protect yourself against insurance scams: Stay alert, ask questions, and go slow or back out if an insurance transaction seems suspicious.

• Never sign blank insurance claim forms.
  
  
• Demand detailed bills for repair and medical services. Check closely for accuracy.
  
  
• Make sure "free services" aren’t actually hidden in your insurance bill.
  
  
• Be wary of buying insurance from door-to-door or telephone sales people.
  
  
• Be suspicious if the price of insurance seems too low to be true.
  
  
• Contact your state insurance department to make sure the agent and company are
  licensed.
  
  
• Keep your insurance identification number secret; insurance crooks can steal it and involve you in scams.
  
  
• Be wary if a car suddenly pulls in front of you, forcing you to follow dangerously close. You may be set up for a staged accident.
  
  
• After an auto accident, be careful of strangers who offer you quick cash or urge you to see a specific medical clinic, doctor or attorney. They could be part of a fraud ring.
  
  
• Contact your state insurance department and the National Insurance Crime Bureau (1-800-835-6422) if you think you’re being scammed or someone asks you to take part in a fraud.

Article taken from
Coalition Against Insurances Fraud
http://www.insurancefraud.org/index.html