FraudAnalyst Software Set to Save Insurance Industry £Millions in Bogus ‘Cash for Crash’ Claims

Esri UK announced the launch of FraudAnalyst, a new GIS (Geographic Information System) software tool to help combat insurance and banking fraud. Insurance fraud investigators have welcomed the advanced technology which reveals new insights into potentially bogus insurance claims, ID theft or mortgage and credit card fraud. 

Statistics from the Insurance Fraud Bureau estimate that around 30,000 ‘cash for crash’ fraudulent accidents are staged every year, costing insurers in excess of £350 million. FraudAnalyst has been designed to alert insurance investigators to road junctions or roundabouts where accidents are being deliberately staged, by identifying abnormal or above average clusters of behaviour. Suspicious behaviour can be flagged for closer inspection while any trends uncovered help predict where and when fraudulent activity is likely to occur.

Other higher than average potentially fraudulent incidents such as property damage (eg televisions being dropped) in a particular neighbourhood can be revealed; flood claims can also be examined down to individual property level to see if a house within an ‘at risk’ postcode area, has in fact been affected by a flood.

FraudAnalyst has been developed to use a range of background mapping, including free Ordnance Survey (OS) VectorMap District maps that became available for download in May 2010. Esri UK is also developing future applications based on the same technology aimed at utilities, benefits and prescription fraud analysis.

Internet: www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/media/news/2010/dec/insurancefraud.html