Thinking of fake insurance claims? Beware, as private sleuths are on the prowl..!

Insurance firms across India are a worrisome lot these days for settling bogus and fraud claims. No matter whether it’s Vehicle, Industrial, General, and Health Insurance Company, the heat of cheating is felt by them all. A reported loss amounting into crores notwithstanding, they are even more perturbed by the growing tendency of the people to claim insurance sums in the blatantly false ways to win the cases. What irks them the most is the rising cases where people want to extract the most out of the insurance firms. In such a bleak scenario, one question is bound to prop up- is there any solution for these troubled and loss-making insurance firms?

Yes, there is a hope in the form of private detective agencies! To counter the constantly increasing cases of counterfeit claims, the majority of insurance carries in India are seeking help from these detective agencies. After all, they are left with almost no choice but to fight and curb the prevalent malpractice to save the mounting losses to the exchequer. “Of course, yes! People are coming up with false claims which have to be settled despite our knowing the reality hidden in them. We’re helpless due to laws of insurance claims, but then, we can’t sit back and let people cheat us. We are planning some measures and soon, such claims would be slashed drastically,” echoed the MD of a renowned Insurance Giant, on the condition of anonymity.

Why people present false claims is not hard to decode for anyone, however, the majority across India is involved in this kind of bad practice has surely given sleepless nights to insurance firms. Unable to control this pestering menace, insurance firms have now decided to fight it with a bold face, and their decision to involve private detective agencies in India is indeed a welcome move. It’s hard to stop people from presenting twisted cases, though the veracity of the ‘claims’ can bring some sense of respite for sure. A private agency can be asked to keep a track of casualty observation, background checks and activity analysis of the suspects to discourage people from coming up further.

For insurance companies, choices are not many on the private sleuth front, as only handful of reputed players are available in the market. This kind of responsible and huge task cannot be outsourced to small firms, as they neither have technologically-equipped set-up, nor the dedicated resources to handle the cases of such gravity. In Mumbai alone, only two or three players were found well-appointed to be assigned such high-profile jobs. We interviewed and analyzed one ‘giant’ private detective agency in Mumbai to know its capacities and potential for the job. “We are currently hired by some well-known insurance companies for various tasks. And we are absolutely honoured for that,” a beaming Mr. Naman Jain quipped, Sleuths India Detective’s Director.

When we probed further, he informed us about the activities his company and team of detectives generally involve in to help insurance firms. He asserted that his team does a whole range of on-site and off-site verification, including vehicle theft, accidental claims, fire claims, robbery claims, physical injury claims, property claims,   health claims, and ‘controversial’ death claims etc. “It’s never an easy task to verify a lot of claims when the people are hell-bent to get the insurance claims. We face some issues as well, but in the end, we crack many bogus cases and see their claims rejected by the insurance firms,’’ Naman Jain further elaborated on the subject.

With insurance entities in no mood to distribute freebies, coupled with their liaison with private detective agencies, it’s better for you to avoid unnecessary claim, at least, bogus one. Or else, be ready to face the legal wrath, amounting to penalty and jail terms for deliberate mistake.