The P&C Insurance Industry Helps Raise Awareness during Fraud Prevention Month

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This Fraud Prevention Month we elevated our awareness of insurance crimes and fraud by amplifying and spotlighting the amazing work our insurer members are doing, as well as supporting the property and casualty (P&C) industry through training and speaking events. This type of industry collaboration and unified voice shows our collective dedication to fraud prevention.

Each year in March, the Fraud Prevention Month awareness campaign aims to educate Canadians on how to recognize and protect themselves from becoming a victim of fraud. I considered this year’s campaign exceptionally important, as we are living in an environment of rising insurance crimes, which undermine consumer safety and adds costs to a system already taxed by high inflation. Consumer awareness about fraud is an important step in keeping Canadians and their property safe.

To this end, we profiled some of the great fraud prevention work of four of our insurer members:

• Travelers Canada: Innovative Solutions to Prevent Fraud
• Aviva Canada Spotlights Trends and Detection of Treatment Billing Fraud
• How Intact is Identifying Fraud in Auto Theft
• TD Insurance Raises Awareness on Opportunistic Fraud

As Canada’s national authority on insurance crime, Équité spokespeople participated in many Fraud Prevention Month events to raise awareness and provide insight on insurance fraud prevention for our members and industry partners. Notably, Bryan Gast, VP, Investigative Services represented our member insurers at the 2024 Auto Theft Summit hosted by Peel Regional Police and partnering police services and stakeholders. Canadian Underwriter featured an interview with Bryan on their podcast about Équité’s participation in the National Summit on Combating Auto Theft in Ottawa on February 8, and what the future could hold regarding auto theft prevention.

We also updated our resource library with articles with relevant fraud prevention information. This resource library is designed to support anyone working in the insurance industry, as well as law enforcement, government and partners who are working to eliminate insurance crime in Canada.

• Staged Collisions
• Re-VIN Fraud
• Ghost Brokers
• Accident Benefits Fraud
• Auto Repair Fraud
• Cargo Theft

Insurers are doing more than ever before to protect their customers, and by joining Équité, members have access to specific anti-fraud expertise designed to prevent and disrupt insurance crime. Our goal in March was to be a central forum to amplify and support engagement for the conversation around fraud prevention and detection, and we did this with tremendous success.

Fighting fraud independently on a claim-by-claim basis is not a sustainable option for the industry. A collaborative industry approach is key to combatting the growing insurance crime problem in Canada. By joining together, our members are part of a leading national response in combating insurance crime and disrupting organized crime.

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