Esri UK today has launched a new geographic information system software tool to help combat insurance and banking fraud.
Fraud Analyst 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 also be revealed; while 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.
“Fraud Analyst gives insurance companies and banks a valuable new weapon in the fight against fraud,” said Simon Weaver, product manager at Esri UK.
“Using geographic analysis to analyse claims unlocks new trends and insights investigators would not normally see, when looking at traditional data hidden in spreadsheets or databases. With ‘cash for crash’ claims standing at £350m alone, Fraud Analyst’s spatial intelligence will help cut these significant losses, along with many others.”
“‘Cash for crash’ false claims, often traffic accidents staged by crime rings, have seen a significant increase in recent years,” added Kate Beddington-Brown at CIFAS, the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service.
“Geographic analysis presents a significant breakthrough in providing a better understanding of fraud, which can help not only identify fraudulent claims but improve the allocation of investigative resources. Any reduction in false claims means significant savings for the industry which has a positive impact on the cost of insurance for genuine consumers.”
The new fraud software is based on the analysis engine that underpins Esri’s Crime Analyst product, used by police forces across the UK and in more than 25 countries.
South Yorkshire Police use it to deliver better crime intelligence to its 3400 officers; the annual saving for the police authority is predicted to be over £1m.
Medico-Legal News Source: PostOnline
