Whether you’re identifying patterns of insurance fraud or studying the fraudsters who do it, insurance fraud can tell a story about the past, present, and future. Millennials (age 27-42) are more likely than any other age group to say they lost money to a scam via email; that’s a problem Baby Boomers (age 59-68) didn’t have before the introduction of the internet in 80s.
Insurance fraud evolves over time, and for us to keep up with it, we’re going to have to explore the context in which it exists. In the last installment of our “Who Commits Insurance Fraud” series, we’ll dive into generational views on insurance fraud and each age group’s likeliness to commit hard and soft fraud.
Millennials and Gen Zers were more likely to submit a claim for pre-existing damage and treatment not rendered.
According to the study, Millennials and Gen Zers (age 18-26) were more likely than Gen Xers (age 43-58) and Baby Boomers to submit a claim for pre-existing vehicle damage, damages that occurred before a storm, workers compensation for a personal time recreation injury, and medical billing for treatment not rendered.
As such, I don’t think we are prepared for this potential tidal wave of fraudulent activity as an industry. The younger generation is more advanced and sophisticated in their use of technology. That, and their eagerness to commit insurance fraud, is a dangerous recipe and one that insurers should be preparing for.
Insurers will need to strengthen their anti-fraud efforts by establishing a perimeter defense using advanced technologies on both the underwriting and claims side to detect and prevent insurance fraud.
From a Verisk perspective, knowing that Gen Zers and Millennials are becoming the largest purchaser of insurance and knowing they are more likely to commit fraud than past generations, it is imperative that we deliver anti-fraud solutions to insurers and law enforcement as quickly as possible. The time is now, and we must be expedient in identifying fraud to help insurers, prosecutors, and consumers combat this growing problem.
This means we need to take insurance fraud detection to the next level. Verisk offers a variety of solutions for fighting fraud and keeping tabs on suspicious activity across the insurance industry. The first step in any claims investigation is ClaimSearch, our expansive database of property and casualty claims. More than 95% of the property and casualty insurance industry relies on ClaimSearch.
When a claim is entered into our system, it’s compared to more than 1 billion claims. The match report can help you uncover multiple policies on the same vehicle, prior SIU involvement, several addresses for the same individual, Social Security numbers used for multiple persons, and several other insurance claims fraud indicators.
Gen Zers and Millennials are 4 times more likely to pad their claims.
Twenty-three percent of Gen Zers would submit a claim for vehicle damage caused in a prior accident, while 44% percent of millennials would do the same. However, for Gen Xers and Baby Boomers over the age of 45, only 10% would commit the same act of fraud.
The results were similar across the board for other offenses: Twenty-seven percent of Gen Zers would submit a claim for damage to their homes caused by a prior storm. Fifty-two percent of Millennials would do the same, and only 7% of Gen Xers and Baby Boomers would submit a similar false claim.
In response to these results, we need a robust public awareness campaign focusing on not only the Gen Zers and Millennials, but also teenagers who are now beginning to drive. We need to start educating consumers at an even earlier age so that they recognize what insurance fraud is along with learning the consequences of committing fraud.
Knowing the consequences of insurance fraud is a great deterrent. We need to do a better job of educating consumers on the consequences of fraud. The insurance industry does a great job of using traditional media to educate consumers on insurance fraud. However, we need to use technology to our advantage and direct our campaigns at these younger generations using their preferred methods of communication.
With insurance fraud so widespread—and rationalized—identifying and fighting it has never been more crucial. Learn how ClaimSearch leverages over 1.7 billion claims to detect insurance fraud.
Statistics used in this article were pulled from the “Who, Me?” study conducted jointly by Verisk and the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.
Catch the full series here:
Who Commits Insurance Fraud, part 1: “But is insurance fraud even a crime?”
Who Commits Insurance Fraud, part 2: What motivates insurance fraud?
Interested in learning more? Watch the videos and gain insight into the perceptions respondents have on committing insurance fraud.