NICB Hosted Meeting Highlights New Ways to Combat Insurance Fraud
DES PLAINES, IL, OCTOBER 25, 2023 — Insurance fraud affects millions of Americans and costs businesses and the insurance industry billions of dollars annually. To combat this growing problem, the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), the nation's leading not-for-profit organization dedicated to combatting and preventing insurance crime, hosted a recent legal conference focused on fighting and prosecuting insurance fraud. The 2023 National Conference of Insurance Crime Attorneys brought together lawyers from around the nation to highlight new methods and tactics to help prosecute fraud and combat emerging trends in insurance crime. The conference also featured Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle A. Henry as keynote speaker, who focused on effective strategies to prosecute insurance fraud, and the ways fraud is often connected to other crimes like drug trafficking and murder.
“Prosecuting insurance fraud can be incredibly complex,” said Rich DiZinno, General Counsel and Senior Vice President at the National Insurance Crime Bureau. “In order to stay ahead of these criminals, prosecutors and law enforcement agencies need every available tool. Conferences like this one can highlight emerging fraud trends and successful new methods to prosecute and deter insurance fraud. I am especially pleased that Attorney General Henry was able to offer her experience and advice on new strategies to effectively address this type of crime.”
Attorney General Henry noted that insurance fraud is often perceived as a victimless crime, when in fact it has many victims. Fraud forces consumers to pay more for insurance and often facilitates other crimes, including drug trafficking and murder. In her keynote, Attorney General Henry highlighted a recent murder case handled by her office which involved a life insurance payout as a motive for the perpetrator, who also sought to be the potential beneficiary. The Attorney General affirmed that effective prosecutions serve as an important deterrent to insurance fraud and issued a warning to those who are committing fraud: Someone is always watching.
While the National Insurance Crime Bureau has traditionally focused on vehicle recovery and auto theft, it has evolved as the industry and the type of insurance fraud has changed. NICB has positioned itself as a stand-out in the fraud-fighting space and is leading the charge to effectively investigate and prosecute these crimes. NICB uses unique data analytics and information that other private sector entities cannot access to provide intelligence reports and training programs for its industry partners and law enforcement agencies.