CANATICS and Insurance Bureau of Canada collaborate in the war against organized insurance crime

TORONTO, March 14, 2016 /CNW/ - "The fraudsters move fast. The insurance industry has to move faster," said Ben Kosic CEO, CANATICS.  CANATICS, the latest tool in the fight against auto insurance fraud, is pleased to announce it is collaborating with Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) to improve the industry's ability to identify and investigate criminal fraud rings.  

Auto insurance fraud took centre stage this past weekend when a CTV News W5 under-cover investigative report highlighted a fraudulent scheme taking place in a medical clinic and involving a paralegal, right in the Greater Toronto Area.

CANATICS is doing its part through collaboration, adaptation and growth.  It uses state-of-the-art data analytics tools to identify suspicious claims and facilitate further investigations by individual insurance companies. When the tool has identified suspicious behaviour or patterns that suggest organized criminal activity, it sends an alert to affected insurers.

On behalf of insurance companies, the most suspicious alerts are now being sent to IBC, the investigative body for the industry, an important step in fighting crime now and in to the future.

"This collaboration is an important step forward," said Kosic. "As two organizations with an industry-wide view, CANATICS and IBC are uniquely positioned to support the fight against fraudsters who attack multiple insurance companies. CANATICS is the early warning system, producing alerts on suspicious activity. IBC is the investigative body that can confirm whether activity is indeed fraudulent, by gathering the evidence that police and prosecutors need to bring the bad guys to justice."

Garry Robertson, IBC's National Director of Investigative Services, said: "This partnership with CANATICS will be very important. IBC has the mandate to coordinate organized crime ring investigations and provide police and prosecution support. Access to CANATICS alerts should greatly improve the effectiveness of our investigations thereby bringing the fraudsters to justice sooner and reducing the impact of fraud on honest policy holders."

Collaboration and early detection are key. By seeing alerts from CANATICS, IBC will get a quicker, earlier view into potentially suspicious activity that can then be investigated in collaboration with affected insurers.

Insurers who participate in CANATICS, by allowing their data to be pooled and analysed, must adhere to strict privacy controls.

IBC and CANATICS both exist and operate for the benefit of member insurance companies and their customers. Investigations only proceed with the approval of affected insurers.

Organized insurance fraud reduces road safety and drives up premiums for everyone. A single staged collision can result in more than $100,000 in fraudulent pay-outs. A government-commissioned report from KPMG for the Ontario anti-fraud task force report estimated fraud ranges from $768 million to $1.56 billion dollars a year.  This amounts to between $116 and $236 per average premium paid in Ontario in that year.

About CANATICS

Canadian National Insurance Crime Services, or CANATICS, is a non-profit organization focused on fighting insurance crime by providing the industry with superior intelligence derived from analytics performed on pooled industry data. CANATICS maintains an unwavering focus on data quality, privacy and security. Its members represent 75% of the Ontario auto insurance market. Learn more at www.canatics.ca.

SOURCE CANATICS

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