IFB’s Jallow reveals new strategies to fight insurance fraud

If you’ve worked in insurance for more than five minutes, you’ll know one thing for sure: fraud never stops changing. 

Just when we think we’ve shut one door, another opens. It can be exhausting at times, but it’s also a reminder of why our work matters. 

When we tackle fraud properly, we’re not just stopping financial losses for big companies, we’re protecting the honest customers who rely on insurers to be there for them when needed. 

That’s how we rebuild and strengthen trust in our industry.

Fraudsters don’t care who they target, so we’re breaking down barriers when it comes to fighting back! This is strengthened by bringing in new types of members into the fold to strengthen compliant intelligence sharing and close more gaps.

Ursula Jallow, Insurance Fraud Bureau

Lately, one area that’s really caught my attention is pet insurance fraud. The growth we’ve seen here has been huge. With more people owning pets and vet bills climbing, fraudsters are taking advantage. 

We’re seeing everything from exaggerated treatments to claims on pets that never even existed. It sounds ridiculous, but unfortunately, it’s very real, and it’s happening more often than many realise.

At the Insurance Fraud Bureau, we knew we had to act fast. 

That’s why, for the first time, we’ve opened our pet fraud working groups to both members and non-members. This isn’t the time for silos. That’s the heart of what our Connected to Protect strategy is to me.

Fraudsters don’t care who they target, so we’re breaking down barriers when it comes to fighting back! This is strengthened by bringing in new types of members into the fold to strengthen compliant intelligence sharing and close more gaps. 

By widening the circle, we’re spotting patterns sooner, sharing intelligence compliantly and ensuring the central intelligence hub for the industry remains a protected and trusted data set.

Tech test

But pet insurance fraud is only one example of how fraud is evolving. An industry-wide trend we can’t ignore is the rise in synthetic identities. 

These aren’t fake names scribbled on a form anymore, fraudsters are blending a mix of real and false data, often using stolen information, leaving their victims feeling powerless in the wake of their criminal activities. 

Using AI tools, the IDs are getting more sophisticated, and they’re being used to open multiple policies, commit claims fraud, and generally slip under the radar of traditional checks.

This is exactly why investing in the right tech is so important. Human expertise is vital, but manually spotting a synthetic ID is increasingly difficult. As an industry, we need strong, intelligent systems that can detect unusual patterns, link data in smarter ways, and connect dots humans would never see. 

At the IFB, we’re continuing to focus on this through our new Connected to Protect strategy. Giving our members access to technology that helps identify emerging fraud types, including synthetic identities, much earlier.

Joint effort

Fraud is a shared challenge, and collaboration is what will really shift the dial. 

No single insurer or organisation has the full picture of fraud, but collectively, we have more than we think. IFB members will benefit more so, with our strategic threat assessment launching shortly that will offer unique insights that the wider industry is facing.

Working together helps us protect our collective reputation. Customers want to know that we’re on their side, that we take fraud seriously because it affects them directly. 

It puts pressure on premiums. It damages trust. It makes the whole system less fair. So, when we collaborate on issues like pet fraud or synthetic IDs, and have a strong fraud focus, we’re not just improving fraud detection, we’re showing customers that we’re fighting for them.

Fraud will keep evolving, but by working together, sharing openly, and embracing smarter tech, we can stay ahead and protect the honest customers who rely on us.