With hurricane season right around the corner, memories of Superstorm Sandy remain fresh. Forecasts for storm activity are starting to appear, as they do every April, and it looks as though this year may be above average. According to Artemis, the Tropical Storm Risk consortium expects 15 named tropical storms, with 8 becoming hurricanes and 3 reaching at least Category 3. Meteorological consulting firm Weatherbell anticipates 16 named storms, with 12 becoming hurricanes and 5 reaching at least Category 3.
It’s time to start thinking about catastrophe claims — and catastrophe claims fraud.
We’ve heard from many ISO ClaimSearch® users since Sandy struck, and many have had questions about how to use their fraud detection tools more effectively in the wake of a catastrophe event. Here are a few tips to help you get started:
1. Report all claims involving catastrophe losses (or any other weather-related claims) to ISO ClaimSearch. That will help you identify undisclosed duplicate insurance, unrepaired previous damage, and questionable claim activity by insureds, contractors, and public adjusters.
2. Use the appropriate catastrophe serial number from Property Claim Services® (PCS®) when you submit your claims to ISO ClaimSearch. That will make it much easier for you to track and manage catastrophe claims activity, identify trends, and deploy your adjusters more effectively.
3. Report catastrophe claims to ISO ClaimSearch and designate as such. You’ll be able to manage catastrophe and noncatastrophe claims, run claims inquiry queries on catastrophe claims, and aggregate catastrophe claims for analysis.
4. Use the Weather Forensic Reports in Decision Net® to conduct claims analysis and investigations and detect fraud. Specific tools include:
- severe wind reports to secure local wind speed readings and on-site observations
- weather-related claims reports to identify whether your claimants’ severe weather claims are within the pattern of losses of other carriers reporting claims to ISO ClaimSearch
5. The risk of impropriety doesn’t stop when the wind slows down. Use NetMap for ClaimSearch™ to watch proactively for unscrupulous contractors and other service providers that have histories of suspicious activity.