The Insurance Agent

The economic difficulties being experienced by Spain have a proliferation of new types of fraud to insurance companies, especially car insurance. Specifically, insurance fraud have grown by more than 30% in the last two years, which is becoming a major threat to the sector and for all consumers.

According to the Cooperative Research Underwriters (ICEA), during 2010 there were about 120,000 potential fraud cases. The scheme to defraud insurance companies varies and depends mainly on the type of industry. For example in the auto or life policies in health insurance or accident, the most common is to hide existing damage or injury to the accident and attribute to it. Within the liability policies, for example, is more frequent accidents are simulated to get collect insurance money.

However, auto insurance fraud are the most common (75% of the total cases filed), followed by civil liability cases (21% of total). Only in 2010 aseguradorasevitaron companies pay more than 200 million euros (61% of the total amount of fraud prevented) after finding that cases of car accidents, were not really such.

In response to this phenomenon, insurers are supplied with weapons to do it in front. Among other things, hiring private investigators, telephone consultations to its customers and the exchange of information with the police making use of social networks even while respecting the limits of the Data Protection Act.