Zurich cracks down on insurance fraud

Zurich Financial Services is upping the ante in the fight against insurance fraud with the announcement it is expanding its fraud fighting practices to help protect those making valid claims and to keep insurance premiums to minimum levels.

The move comes as the global economic crisis places many people and businesses under greater financial pressure. Zurich stressed that historically, periods of recession have seen the frequency of claims involving an element of fraud increase, with fake and exaggerated insurance claims more likely to surface during tough economic conditions. It added that global industry experience has suggested 5 to 10 per cent of insurance claim payments contain an element of fraud that subsequently gets passed on to policyholders through higher premiums.

To combat the issue, Zurich has appointed Adam Plummer to the new role of fraud manager. Plummer will spearhead Zurich Australia’s fraud prevention and detection practices and will also be responsible for aligning them with Zurich’s global fraud strategy. Plummer was formerly the national investigations manager for Vero, has managed his own investigations business and has spent a number of years in the NSW Police Service.