Thoughts on Fraud

The Log
I used a credit card only 2 times last year. I have not used a credit card in 2009.

Spent: 217 pennies on the Sunday paper (for the coupons).

Earned: 0 pennies

Banked: 0 pennies

I did get paid the other night and paid some bills, of course. The only trouble w/ not posting every single day like I did when I started this LONG LONG trek to debt freedom is that I often have little or nothing to post in the listings above!!

My life is fairly boring right now, which is why I don't post. Work is work. Claims are sort of slow right now (which is nice...because we all know the weather disasters will pick up again come summer!) There are a lot of theft claims right now. More people out of work means more people are desperate...so they are either robbing homes and cars or they are making fake claims. Either way, I mostly get theft claims these days. Now I just get to try to decide who is telling the truth and who is lying.

It is an interesting challenge, actually. I've been in the "fraud biz" for a long time (I worked a total 0f 8 yrs for a major credit card company and 6 of them were in the fraud department.) We took classes on telephone interrogation techniques. I've studied "red flag" lists for all sorts of different types of fraud. It was useful for deciding if a caller was really the cardholder, and it was useful for trying to decide whether a cardholder reporting that their card was stolen and charges were not theirs was telling the truth or not.

Nowadays, it is the same thing in the claims department. In addition to processing claims for regular problems like water damage or storm damage (which can also be fraudulent but is rarer), I get to analyze my theft claims and decide whether things look fishy. If they do, I get to pass them on to our fraud unit to have a 2nd look. If they agree it looks fishy, it goes out to a local investigator (I don't leave the office...I am not like the guy who comes to your house to walk on your roof after a hail storm, for example). From there, it might ultimately be nothing or it could lead (ultimately) to involvement with the Department of Insurance, the NICB (National Insurance Crime Bureau) and the local authorities.

I'll tell ya folks. You DON'T want to get tangled up in an insurance fraud rap. If you are the sort of person who commits fraud (and FYI...I doubt anyone who regularly reads my blog IS such a person...this is just me ranting on a soapbox) you should know that even if an insurance company ultimately pays you, if your claim gets so far as an outside investigation, your name WILL be sent to the DOI (department of insurance) and the NICB. And any subsequent claims that even LOOK similar will be examined with a fine tooth comb.

Anyway, this long-winded ramble is all to say that there are a lot of folks out there right now who normally wouldn't steal a pen from their office but who are suddenly so desperate they're torching cars and homes, manufacturing fake burglaries, inflating real burglaries, and so forth. In many cases these are people who have never committed a crime before...it would never have occurred to them so little as six months ago.

Worse, people are completely desensitized to it. They see it as perfectly acceptable to inflate their claim enough so that they don't "really" have to pay their deductible (they do, but they "earn" it back at settlement because of the inflated claim). People see insurance companies as evil in some way. They feel entitled to do whatever they want and get paid for it because they "pay and pay and never have a claim" and now when they suddenly do have a claim and the insurance company is telling them that their loss isn't covered or the coverage is limited, they feel entitled to lie, cheat, and steal. I know I am seriously lecturing now, but folks, THIS is why insurance premiums are so high!

Also, let's put it in another perspective. Let's say insurance didn't exist at all. No one could buy it. What do you suppose you'd do if a pipe broke in your house and flooded every room in it? What if lightning burned the house to the ground? Or how about it someone broke in and stole every last piece of jewelry and every bit of electronic equipment that you owned? You'd be completely out of pocket. Why do you then have to turn around and add things to your claim that weren't stolen to "cover" your deductible? That's dirty and underhanded. You agreed to pay the first "whatever amount" (your deductible) out of any claim. If you don't like it, change the deductible! Don't wait for a loss and then decide you can't cover your deductible so you'll go ahead and manufacture a higher claim. Folks, if you are caught lying to an insurance company, legally speaking, they don't have to pay ANY of your claim...even the legitimate part. Because once they catch you lying, who can be sure the whole thing isn't a lie? And don't be surprised when they drop you like a hot potato, either.

Wow. Listen to me. All that shouting from my soapbox...sorry about that! Guess I just get a little fired up at the crazy thought process some people (the criminal element) have that they feel justifies their actions. So I guess I decided to fire a shot back at all the crazies. Which is really pointless because I doubt anyone who reads my blog w/ even a LITTLE regularity would be the sort of person to commit fraud. After all, we're all DIGGING our way out of debt...not LYING our way out of it. I could have gone bankrupt long ago, but I just can't do it. And it isn't about the hit on my credit. It's about accountability and responsibility...two traits which I fear are becoming extinct in America today. Maybe we should be like India. If you get caught stealing, they cut off your hand. Sometimes both. A nice obvious, visual demonstration of your character. Sort of like the Scarlet Letter. But I worry there'd be an epidemic handlessness if we started doing that. YARGH.