The object of this organization shall be to advance the professional interests and promote the individual and collective welfare of its members, that, through education, social interaction, association and cooperation, we may be better prepared to carry out those duties prescribed for our profession.
WHAT IS A PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR?
A Private Investigator is a highly skilled professional that gathers information and verifies facts through research, interviewing; canvassing; records search/analysis; evidence collection and observation.
Many that choose the Private Investigator field have a background in law enforcement; government investigation or intelligence; the insurance industry; or the military. More and more are entering the field with Bachelors in Criminal Justice.
Countless people automatically think that a Private Investigator only conducts matrimonial infidelity investigations; this actually represents a very small portion of what Private Investigators actually do. Private investigators perform an extremely wide range of investigative services. The following is a list of various specialties/types of investigations that a Professional Investigator conducts:
Accident Reconstruction
Crime Scene Investigator
Insurance Investigations
Alimony Reduction
Criminal Defense Investigations
Internet Profiling
Arson
Criminal Investigations
Judgment Recovery
Asset Search
Cyber Investigations
Liability Investigations
Background Checks
Divorce
Loss Prevention
Bounty Hunter
Domestic
Missing Children
Celebrity Protection
Due Diligence
Missing Persons
Child Abuse
Electronic Data Discovery
Polygraph
Child Recovery
Executive Protection
Pre-Employment Background Searches
Child Support / Custody
Financial
Premarital
Child Visitation
Forensic
Process Service
Civil Investigations
Fraud
Repossession
Competitive Intelligence
General Investigations
Surveillance
Computer Forensics
Homicide Investigations
Trial Preparation
Corporate Investigations
Identity Theft
Workers Compensation
Covert Surveillance
Infidelity
Wrongful Death
Private Investigators often work for law firms/public defenders offices where they assist in locating witnesses, serving legal documents and gathering evidence. A corporate private investigator performs internal or external investigations, some related to drug use or theft. A financial private investigator may also be a certified public accountant and might assist in investigative services related to large financial dealings. Store private investigators protect a business from theft, both externally and internally, and hotel detectives do the same for their employers and may also serve as a safety or protection officer
INSURANCE FRAUD
WHAT IS FRAUD?
Insurance fraud occurs when people deceive an insurance company or agent to collect money to which they are not entitled. Similarly, insurers and agents also can defraud consumers, or even each other. Insurance fraud is broken into two categories - "hard" or "soft."
Hard Fraud - S omeone deliberately fakes an accident, injury, theft, arson or other loss to collect money illegally from insurance companies. Crooks often act alone, but increasingly, organized crime rings stage large schemes that steal millions of dollars.
Soft Fraud - Normally honest people often tell "little white lies" to their insurance company. Many people think it's just harmless fudging. But soft fraud is a crime, and raises everyone's insurance costs.
Consider. a car owner inflates a fender bender claim to cover her deductible, or she understates how many miles she drives annually to lower her auto premium. A homeowner inflates the value of his stereo equipment stolen during a robbery. Or a printing business lists fewer employees than it really has in order to pay lower workers compensation premiums.
FRAUD STATISTICS
- Insurance fraud occurs every day and in every state. People of all races, incomes and ages are victimized. According to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, insurance fraud costs Americans at least $80 billion a year, or nearly $950 for each family.
- Healthcare fraud alone costs Americans $54 billion a year, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud estimates.
- More than one third of people hurt in auto accidents exaggerate their injuries. This adds $13-$18 billion to America's annual insurance bill, according to a study by the Rand Institute for Civil Justice.
- Nearly one third of doctors exaggerate the severity of a patient's illness to help the patient avoid early discharge from a hospital, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.
- More than one of every three bodily-injury claims from car crashes involves fraud. Insurance Research Council (1996)
- 17-20 cents of every dollar paid for bodily injury claims from auto policies involves fraud or claim buildup. Insurance Research Council (1996).
- Fraud adds $5.2-$6.3 billion to the auto premiums that policyholders pay each year. Insurance Research Council (1996)
- Arson and suspected arson account for nearly 500,000 fires a year, or one of every four fires in the U.S. National Fire Protection Association (1998)
- Only 2 percent of arson or suspect arson fires result in convictions. National Fire Protection Association (1998)
- Arson and suspected arson are the largest causes of property damage in the U.S. National Fire Protection Association (1998)
- Health insurers save $11 for every $1 they spend fighting fraud - an average of $5.5 million per company in 1998. Health Insurance Association of America (1999).
- Fraud amounts to 10 percent of U.S. healthcare expenditures. Government Accounting Office (1992), National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association (2001)
- Seniors and other taxpayers pay up to $1 billion a year in inflated drug prices due to potential fraud and loopholes in Medicare. The overpayments represented 1/5 of Medicare spending in 2000. Government Accounting Office (2001)
- 80 percent of healthcare fraud is by medical providers, 10 percent is by consumers and the balance is by other sources. Health Insurance Association of America (1998)
- The U.S. government recovered more than $8 for every dollar spent fighting health care fraud and abuse by using the False Claims Act. New Directions for Policy (2001)
Private Investigators are instrumental in the fight against insurance fraud. Through various investigative activities such as locating witnesses, accident reconstruction, interviewing involved parties, and surveillance, professional investigators gather information and evidence that assists claims adjusters in making educated decisions and identifying potential fraudulent claims.
