OREANDA-NEWS. In 2013, Ingosstrakh Insurance Company prevented 1044 fraud attempts related to improper obtaining of cash payments. The activities of the Department of Information Analysis and Security (DIAS) allowed the company to avoid losing RUR 987.3 m.

There were 152 cases of major fraud in 2013, with the amount of indemnity claimed exceeding RUR 0.6 m. As a part of the program aimed to combat fraudulent actions that involve large amounts, improper payments for damages were prevented for the amount of RUR 727.5 m, which is 72.1% more than in 2012. During the reporting period, DIAS employees initiated 125 complaints to the internal affairs departments, which resulted in 47 criminal cases brought to court.

As regards the structure of fraud in 2013, there were cases of bad faith on the part of insurance intermediaries, as well as illegal actions of individual customers of the company. The largest losses, for which attempts of improperly obtaining compensation from Ingosstrakh Insurance Company have been recorded, refer to the sector of legal entities insurance. In particular, a client submitted an application to Ingosstrakh Insurance Company for the compensation of loss in the amount of RUR 174.148 m under the insurance contract for the trade inventory of meat. The inspection by DAIS staff and the police investigation did not confirm the declared theft of the goods, but revealed falsification of documents and breach of the terms of insurance contract by the client. The client was denied compensation.

In the sphere of natural persons insurance, the largest number of fraud was recorded in motor insurance. For example, the company's Branch in Kaluga prevented an attempt of falsification of the circumstances of a road accident intended to receive illegal payments in the amount of 546,726 rubles. The inspection found that the damage that was allegedly caused by overturning actually resulted from another accident involving a drunk driver. The policyholder evaded giving explanations, and the payment of compensation was denied. In Samara, a fraud was revealed that was committed by the client of Ingosstrakh Insurance Company, who received insurance compensation for the same damage of the vehicle in two different insurance companies. As a result of this work, funds in the amount of 120,000 rubles were returned to the account of the Branch.

During 2013, the staff of DIAS of Ingosstrakh Insurance Company found 66 vehicles that had been declared as stolen and for which customers had been paid indemnity.

"During 2013, we witnessed a growing number of attempts of illegal actions on the part of non-professional fraudsters,” Alexander Gulyaev, Director of Analysis and Information Protection of Ingosstrakh Insurance Company, comments. “Despite overall increase of the level of insurance culture among the population, many customers still do not realize that cheating an insurance company is a crime, although there already is a relevant article in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. We often deal with amateurish attempts of overstating the damages, forgery of the documents and the adulteration of the circumstances of the accident, feign insured events, etc. Of course, such attempts do not take long to detect and deter. As a part of our normal practice, we also encounter professional fraudsters, but our employees have enough experience, resources and expertise to combat fraud at any level".