“Half the story.”
That’s all that is likely forthcoming if you are an insurance investigator probing the details of a claim without having looked into social media information that might be relevant to it.
Put another way: Reportedly, nearly 80% of all Americans have posted personal data on one or more social media sites, which can make for a treasure trove of information that is germane to an insurance claim.
A recent Claims Journal article underscores that, spotlighting especially the close role that scrutiny of what people “tweet, snap and post” online can play in unmasking insurance fraud.
That publication spotlights a select workers’ compensation claim to emphasize the point. In that matter, a claimant asserted that he was so stressed out at work that he developed post-traumatic stress disorder and couldn’t even venture from his house. Unfortunately for him, a team of investigators came across Facebook information revealing that the PTSD symptoms were fictional and that the individual was actively involved outside his home in Uber-linked ventures.
Legions of similar tales emerge from investigators who peruse social media information in legal cases grounded in insurance fraud. Evidence uncovered through photos, videos, comments and other sources directly contradicts accident/injury claims of all sorts.
It thus behooves insurers to routinely avail themselves of that data. In fact, it is imperative that they do so, given an estimate that fraud “steals $80 billion a year across all lines of insurance.”
That money is not simply pilfered from insurers. It also comprises fraud upon the public, with losses harming many millions of good-faith individual and family policyholders across the country.
Questions or concerns relevant to insurance fraud and related matters can be directed to proven attorneys at an established insurance defense law firm.
