OREANDA-NEWS. September 01, 2010. According to the data collected by ROSNO Security Department in the 1st half of the year 2010, the quantity of fraud-related insured accidents has grown by 15% as compared to the previous period. The largest growth in the number of offences was recorded in motor insurance, and staged traffic accidents have become the fraudsters' favorite method, reported the press-centre of ROSNO.

Just as the experts of the company's Security Department had predicted, the insurance fraudsters are becoming increasingly active in the Russian regions: in the first half of 2010, the quantity of attempts to cheat the insurance company was noted in North Western Okrug, Ural, and Southern Okrugs as well.

In the first half of 2010, St. Petersburg still faced a high car theft level, including expensive foreign car brands. To stabilize the situation, employees of ROSNO Security Department took part in comprehensive measures, implemented jointly with the Central Road Police Department, St. Petersburg Road Police Department, St. Petersburg Municipal and Regional Police Department, and other insurance companies operating in the region. The company’s participation in data sharing has made it possible to arrest a group of fraudsters specializing in car theft. More joint steps are taken to counter the growth in car theft cases in Russia’s northern capital.

"Joint efforts by law enforcement agencies and insurers are not enough to reduce the number of car theft cases. To achieve this goal, we also need car owners to be vigilant. According to the data collected by ROSNO, car theft cases traditionally peak in spring (April) and autumn (November). Within any one day, the highest frequency (70%) pertains to the nighttime (11:00 p.m. to 04:00 a.m.). 90% of all theft cases occurred at unguarded parking lots", notes Mr. Alexey Bebnev, head of the Counter-Fraud Department of OJSC IC ROSNO.

In Novokuznetsk, the Security Department uncovered a criminal group specializing in soliciting unlawful insurance compensations from insurers under OMTPL contracts. The criminals had staged a traffic accident, intending to receive around 400,000 roubles of insurance compensation from IC ROSNO.

The investigation of this alleged insured accident has uncovered that the fraudsters had previously applied in the same manner to other insurers operating in the region. All of the collected facts were submitted for further examination to law enforcement authorities, and investigation is presently under way. The same technique — staged traffic accidents — had been used by fraudsters in the Republic of Ingushetia, who had applied for insurance compensations under MOD (Toyota Land Cruiser) and OMTPL/VMTPL (KamAZ) contracts. In these cases, the alleged accidents were staged in remote regions, where counter-terrorism operations were under way.

Overall, in the first half of 2010, ROSNO Security Department prevented unlawful payments for the total amount of 130 million roubles. The Department conducted 2,560 pre-insurance investigations, leading to denial of insurance coverage in 154 cases. Over 500 insured accidents required further investigation, resulting in prevention of losses for the amount of 130 mln. roubles and 14 cases where criminal charges were brought. The company discovered 31 transport vehicles previously recorded as stolen.