NICB Reports 9 Percent Rise in California Suspicious Claims

In 2008, a total of 15,609 California QCs were referred to NICB from its member insurance companies, compared with 16,274 in 2009 and 17,082 in 2010. That represents a 9 percent increase in 2010 from 2008 numbers according to The National Insurance Crime Bureau’s (NICB) questionable claims (QC) referral reason analysis for California. The report examines QCs originating in California and referred to NICB from January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2010.

From 2008-2010, California spawned 20 percent of all of the QCs generated in the United States. Within California the top five cities posting the most QCs were Los Angeles (5,461), San Francisco (1,736), San Diego (1,627), Sacramento (1,361) and San Jose (1,301).

With respect to referral reasons, most were for “questionable vehicle theft” followed by “faked/exaggerated injury.” Under policy type, “personal automobile” was the single most cited policy generating 9,144 QCs in 2010—54 percent of all California QCs in 2010.

Source: National Insurance Crime Bureau