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Insurance Companies Are Paying Cops To Investigate Their Own Customers
Buzzfeed News ^ | August 15, 2019 | Kendall Taggart

Posted on 08/17/2019 2:42:13 PM PDT by Galatians328

A cozy alliance between insurers and law enforcement has turned the justice system into the industry’s hired gun and left innocent customers facing prison....

These tactics can be applied with impunity, thanks to legislation in all 50 states restricting the ability of customers to sue insurers for wrongly accusing them of fraud

(Excerpt) Read more at buzzfeednews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: blogpimp; clickbait; cops; corporatocracy; fraud; insinvestigations; insurance; insurancecompanies; insurancefraud; investigations; police
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The 21st century insurance companies won't just deny your claim, it'll try and have you arrested for making them.
1 posted on 08/17/2019 2:42:13 PM PDT by Galatians328
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To: Galatians328

Buzzfeed?


2 posted on 08/17/2019 2:49:21 PM PDT by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
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To: Galatians328
Couple of problems, here. First, it's from Buzzfeed, which is even more dishonest than the New York Times.

Second, off duty investigators have been working for years doing investigations for insurance companies. When I was in the fire service in the 1970s-80s, guys wanted to get into arson investigation cause you could make as much money on the side working for insurance companies as you could on the regular job.

Third, there's an incredible amount of insurance fraud. People get upside down on their house or car and torch it. Have their cars stolen. If insurance companies don't investigate fraud, rates will skyrocket.

3 posted on 08/17/2019 2:52:16 PM PDT by Richard Kimball (WWG1WGA)
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To: Galatians328

Don’t commit fraud and you probably won’t have anything to worry about.


4 posted on 08/17/2019 2:56:54 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: Richard Kimball

That has been my understanding also, that people try to rip off insurance companies. So the companies have to do their due diligence regarding claims.

A big area of fraud I have heard about, are staged car crashes, where you have low speed collisions, and “victims” pretend to have gotten whiplash and other injuries. They go to doctors who are lenient in diagnosing certain injuries, and also lenient in claiming the “victims” are now disabled, so they can collect disability benefits.

Unfortunately not everyone is totally honest. I see nothing wrong with insurers conducting investigations into claims.


5 posted on 08/17/2019 2:58:26 PM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: facedown

“Buzzfeed?”

I think it’s French for “clickbait.”


6 posted on 08/17/2019 3:00:16 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: Galatians328

If someone has been sent to prison it is not the insurance company who sent him there, but a judge or jury.

I worked in the insurance industry most of my adult life, then I retired about three years ago. I handled a great many insurance fraud cases. The insurer doesn’t bring criminal charges against a suspect, the criminal justice system does.

Insurance fraud costs policyholders billions of dollars a year, which is reflected in higher premiums.


7 posted on 08/17/2019 3:00:57 PM PDT by ought-six (Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule.)
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To: Galatians328

Two sides to the story. I worked Russian, Mafia and other ethnic groups who were well funded and coordinated who committed massive insurance fraud and funded other nefarious activities with their windfall. They had doctors, chiropractors, lawyers, cappers all working together to do these crimes. In one case alone, there were over 100 chiropractors, led by one individual, who padded their bills and even billed for patients not seen and who weren’t even in accidents. You know what that would do to your insurance rates?


8 posted on 08/17/2019 3:01:16 PM PDT by Pirate Ragnar
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To: Dilbert San Diego
Rip off an insurance company? That's crazy talk!


9 posted on 08/17/2019 3:02:48 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: ought-six

Insurance fraud costs policyholders billions of dollars a year, which is reflected in higher premiums
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Which is why they do a credit check on you. Someone who is a bad credit risk is more likely to commit fraud.


10 posted on 08/17/2019 3:06:44 PM PDT by shelterguy
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To: Galatians328

Nothing new.

Insurance companies have been known to hire private detectives if they feel the claim is bad. Someone may be claiming their back pain is deliberating from an accident. But then the P.I. gets pictures of the guy doing activities without any pain. Torpedoes the case.

And that’s all perfectly legal.


11 posted on 08/17/2019 3:07:03 PM PDT by david1292
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To: Galatians328

Hi. Welcome to FR.

Some people here seem crude but they’re not. Me for example...

So without further adue, insurance companies have been hiring “dick’s” for insurance fraud since the Hartford began writing policies. Lloyds of London too. Police overtime can be rather lucrative.

5.56mm


12 posted on 08/17/2019 3:09:29 PM PDT by M Kehoe (DRAIN THE SWAMP! BUILD THE WALL!)
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To: Galatians328

There is a company here in KY that has gotten rich by getting people to pay for medical claims. It’s Rawlings, or something like that.

If you are at Christmas at your parents house and somehow slip and fall and twist your ankle, you then use your insurance to pay for the doctor bill. Pretty normal. Your insurance company will investigate and basically charge your parents (their homeowner’s insurance) for the medical bill, so their medical insurance gets reimbursed.

Think of it as a kind of low cost, institutionalized ambulance chasing, but they are doing it to reduce the medical insurance company’s exposure.


13 posted on 08/17/2019 3:09:50 PM PDT by cuban leaf (We're living in Dr. Zhivago but without the love triangle)
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To: Richard Kimball

Yeah. I saw the first lines and said to myself, this looks like a dog bites man story.

BTW, it’s fun to go to Youtube and search “insurance fraud”. Fun stuff. :)


14 posted on 08/17/2019 3:11:00 PM PDT by cuban leaf (We're living in Dr. Zhivago but without the love triangle)
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To: PAR35

Don’t commit fraud and you probably won’t have anything to worry about.


that’s pretty much it. They have to PROVE you committed fraud. You don’t have to prove you didn’t.


15 posted on 08/17/2019 3:13:12 PM PDT by cuban leaf (We're living in Dr. Zhivago but without the love triangle)
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To: Galatians328

Nice post, thanks, would not have seen it without you.

This seems like a fairly well researched article. Probbaly worth reading.

It does not discuss as mentioned the real problem of insurance fraud, BUT does clearly acknowledge it; but that is OK because this article is about insurance fraud fraud, and it’s scary, I think.

In fact you would think you would have insurance against people deceitfully going after you for turning in an insurance claim (!), but it is conveniently a criminal complaint they are after, precisely so that liability insurance would not cover it.

They cited “at least a sevenfold return on investment” for the last 20 years on insurance industry efforts to fight fraud. With apparently little downside. On an older guy like the one in the article, their actions could basically usher him out of his life like he never expected.

The solution in part will be along the lines of making it criminal for an insurance company AND THE INDUSTRY “DEEP STATE” type individuals involved not to share exonerating and all information with the accused, PLUS “conflict of interest” type laws preventing them from being too directly involved.

The other part is just shining light on it as the article is doing. I sure will not do any business with the insurance company they use as the main example. I also would tend to pick one with an official policy of staying out of fraud investigations especially as far as paying police, etc.


16 posted on 08/17/2019 3:15:06 PM PDT by Weirdad (Orthodox Americanism: It's what's good for the world! (Not communofascism!))
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To: Galatians328

So they find the ONE GUY who’s not committing insurance fraud and write up a big article about him. How about thousands, perhaps millions, who do commit the fraud, particularly in the inner cities where it’s basically a profession.


17 posted on 08/17/2019 3:16:12 PM PDT by BobL (I eat at McDonald's and shop at Walmart - I just don't tell anyone.)
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To: All

Insurance Co’s are the new home of left wing SJWs. I hope they all go belly up.


18 posted on 08/17/2019 3:17:49 PM PDT by JonPreston
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To: Galatians328
Like others, I'm going to come to the defense of the insurance industry here.

In many areas of insurance -- auto insurance being a perfect example -- the insurance industry has to operate under ridiculous state regulations that require them by law to insure people and property that they would never insure in a million if these companies had the power to make that decision themselves. So you end up with a population containing a number of stunted misfits who have business even getting behind the wheel of a car ... and insurance companies are legally obligated to insure them.

It should come as no surprise that insurance fraud is a problem. And on top of all that, the article even points out that insurance fraud is not a high priority for law enforcement. So think about how preposterous that is: The same government that compels an insurance company to sell an insurance policy to someone then turns around and decides that it isn't a big deal when the insured person rips the insurance company off.

And then that same state government decides that the insurance companies must insure drivers who are illegal aliens AND HAVE NO BUSINESS EVEN LIVING IN THIS COUNTRY AT ALL.

19 posted on 08/17/2019 3:22:42 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave." -- Frederick Douglass)
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To: Galatians328

The amount of fraud out there is stunning and the fact is that bogus insurance claim drive up rates for everybody else

Especially as concerning Workmen’s Comp. insurance and disability claims


20 posted on 08/17/2019 3:23:30 PM PDT by Truthoverpower (The guvmint you get is the Trump winning express !)
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