Surveillance is an expensive yet imperative part of working any insurance file. Without laying eyes on the claimant, documenting his or her daily activities, fraudulent claims can be all but impossible to prove. Other methods of investigation lay the groundwork, such as combing social media for photos and videos of post-injury activity, or conducting a medical canvass to verify current and previous treatments. But it is the surveillance video of current physical activity that truly places the nail in the proverbial coffin of a fraudulent claim. It is the claimant’s actions, when he or she believes no one is watching, that truly tells the story of just how bad an injury is or is not.
When preparing to deny a fraudulent claim, you want to have all of your ducks in a row. You want a background check, driver record, and social media report indicating the claimant’s past and current activities. You want a thorough medical canvass, indicating where a claimant has obtained treatments and prescriptions. Then you want a surveillance report with supporting video evidence. Imagine a serious injury claim flagged as questionable. Upon receiving the background check, you find the claimant has a history of fraud. The claimant’s driver record shows multiple collisions and traffic citations for speeding and reckless driving. Then his social media posts consist of photos and videos that may indicate a claimant’s employment in an industry that requires physical labor. All of these are red flags that certainly assist you in the denial of the claim, but none of these things alone justify denial. Nor do the combined reports get you over that proverbial line of justification. Then, you watch the surveillance video. In the video, the claimant performs a series of workouts with weights in a public park. Later in the day, he lifts large bags of mulch and various lawn care equipment onto a trailer, before driving to a large office campus, where he spends hours landscaping the grounds.
As you can see, it was the surveillance video in actual time that proved, beyond doubt, that the claimant was committing fraud. The next time you need surveillance conducted upon a claimant, call on the skilled Preferred Intelligence investigators who use state-of-the-art equipment. We can be reached at 214- 545-4700.
