o_1915f04bi181p2m9qs12em17oea.pdf

Business, Careers & Technology
to
detect
fraud even at
service provider level.
For instance, First Mutual Limited
acquired a system called Nexus whose
tariff coding system can identify fraud.
In the case of Cimas, it announced that
it was phasing the current cards and is
replacing them with new ones that are
emblazoned with the face of the holder of
the card.
This way, Cimas which estimates
that 30 percent of claims it receives
are fraudulent, can help honest service
providers to determine the authenticity
of some of the claims they receive.
Of course this will only be effective if
the doctors themselves are not complicit
in the fraudulent claims.
Short term insurance is one area
that has really suffered at the hands of
fraudsters because their fake documents
insurers to refuse certain claims.
There are numerous cases of people
exaggerating claims on damaged vehicles
and colluding with panel beaters and
other service providers who then provide
quotations to support such fraudulent
claims.
The panel
beating companies
and hardware stores aid
people who wish to defraud
insurers by producing documentation
circumstances an insurance company
will have no way of knowing if the claim
is exorbitant.
The more brazen of these fraudsters
actually take out a policy for a nonexistent
vehicle only to later submit a
claim that it has been stolen. They take
advantage of the fact that some insurance
companies do not carry out physical
inspections to determine if the car really
exists before insuring the said vehicle.
Others choose to over insure their
assets with the view to submitting a
claim at a later stage. In this instance,
insured for a value well over the amount.
higher premiums for the asset knowing
when they later deliberately cause an
accident or damage to the asset.
The insurance industry has not been
in terms of values of money lost to
fraudsters but there is general agreement
that fraud is rising.
In developed countries where
insurance fraud is more prevalent,
ever changing tactics of criminals.
reported earlier this year that it had
unearthed about 380 false insurance
claims worth $2.66 million. In one of the
cases the fraudsters were ordered to pay
nearly $400000 as punishment for their
activities.
a new trend by car insurance fraudsters,
Zimbabwe eventually.
It said certain motorists were
deliberately causing accidents in order
to cash in on insurance money. A driver
who had a right of way would signal by
motorists would immediately move
thereby causing a crash. This trick is
However, when authorities arrive
signaled the other driver to pass insisting
that he had the right of way hence he was
right by law. Police will have no proof of
the other driver for not giving way.
It would be helpful if the entire
insurance industry engages investigating
companies to determine the
characteristics of insurance fraud locally
thereby helping reduce losses suffered as
result of false claims.TP
The Parade - Zimbabwe’s Most Read Lifestyle Magazine August 2014
Page 73