When it comes to protecting our property and investments, such as homes, cars, business, financial assets and even our health most of us like the reassurance of having some kind of insurance or income protection in place. Many individuals and companies will fork out thousands of dollars over their lifetime to ensure in the event of something that could be seen as financially or life threatening, they will be covered.
And in most cases insurance companies usually provide support when it’s needed in a timely and efficient manner. For anyone that has been in a dire situation that could have led to disastrous outcome without insurance, having the protection of some form of insurance is a godsend.
But there are also many that see their insurance policy as an opportunity to make some quick cash, and an investigation of the insurance industry shows that while around 90% of all insurance holders are honest, there is a percentage that willing to file in illegitimate claims in order to profit from an event that may or may not have happened.
While these insurance scammers hurt the insurance companies, they also force up premiums for the other honest insurance clients.
To counteract insurance fraud many insurance companies will hire private investigation agencies to provide surveillance on those that make a claim that may appear to have some conflicts in their account of events related to the insurance claim.
While many people feel concerned about these steps taken by the insurance companies, it is worth noticing that it is not the insurance company’s intent to try and dig up dirt about you to avoid paying the claim, but more to ensure they are paying you the claim on an honest account, and will only resort to the method of hiring a private investigator when they feel necessary.
Usually an insurance company will hire a private investigator for two consecutive days of surveillance, which usually occur weeks apart, with the private investigator keeping a close eye on you for a full 8 hours of the day. These investigators are trained not to be noticed and the blend in, so there is a possibility you could even come face to face with them and not even realise it, striking up a conversation and subconsciously providing information about your insurance claim without even knowing it.
In some cases the private investigators will also collect evidence that could be legally used in the court of law to help make a judgement on if the insurance claim was an honest and fair case or if it was fraudulent.
To ensure the evidence is permissible, the insurance companies will usually only hire licensed investigators to ensure their reputation is solid, and to help finalise any claims as efficiently as possible.
In many work compensation claims, where an employer may need to provide compensation to an employee for a workplace injury, it is not uncommon for private investigator services to be utilised, especially when the payout could carry a long term financial burden for the employer.
Claims of back injury and very common, and sometimes it can be hard to know if the claim is a legitimate one or not without investigation services. But it doesn’t take much for a trained eye of a PI to catch out someone trying to claim a workplace injury, saving the business a hefty financial loss.