Florida leads the country in insurance fraud, according to National Insurance Crime Bureau
Florida has attracted a significant amount of focus when it comes to fraud in its insurance sector over the past few years. The state’s no-fault auto insurance laws, and some regulations concerning homeowners insurance, have allowed the sector to be easily manipulated and exploited in the past. State legislators recently began overhauling Florida laws to cut down on fraudulent activities, but have found only modest success. The National Insurance Crime Bureau has released new information showing that Florida leads the country in terms of fake insurance claims.
More than 3,500 fraudulent claims filed in Florida
Florida is the fourth most populated state in the U.S., but has a very serious problem when it comes to insurance fraud. From the period of January 1, 2008 through June 30, 2012, the National Insurance Crime Bureau found that the state reported more than 3,530 questionable insurance claims. The bureau suggests that most of these claims came from organized crime groups operated within the state or close to its borders.
Criminals collect millions from fraudulent claims
The National Insurance Crime Bureau found that criminal organizations collected millions of dollar each year through insurance fraud. This is not a problem isolated to Florida, of course, as insurance fraud can be seen throughout the U.S. Auto insurance fraud is one of the more popular forms of insurance crime, due to the no-fault laws that can be found in many states. The National Insurance Crime Bureau has found that stages accidents with fake injuries are common practice with fraud-based organizations, while these same organizations also create entirely fictitious events in order to collect money from insurance companies.
California and Michigan follow Florida in terms of insurance fraud
California follows Florida in terms of fraudulent claims with 2,679 claims filed from 2008 to 2012. Michigan reported some 1,000 fraudulent claims in the same time period. Los Angeles and New York City had the highest number of fraudulent claims in the entire country, despite the fact that Florida leads the nation in terms of insurance fraud. The National Insurance Crime Bureau suggests that states that have a high immigrant population are more likely to see high insurance fraud activity because immigrants often do not know a state’s particular insurance laws and are at risk of being exploited by malicious parties.