Insurance crime

Insurance crime

From fraud to cybercrime

Insurers are constantly confronted with crime in many different ways. They often compensate for the damage caused by crime. But they are also regularly victims of unlawful acts themselves or are otherwise – unintentionally – confronted with the consequences of crime in their business processes. This is what we call insurance crime. Any form of insurance crime is detrimental to the premium-paying customers and the insurance industry. In the end, society as a whole pays the bill. The CBV helps insurers to prevent and combat the various forms of insurance crime. These include:

• Insurance fraud. Insurers have to deal with thousands of false claims or misleading insurance claims every year. This is done by occasional fraudsters, but also by organised gangs. Fraud is a problem for insurers themselves, but also for well-intentioned customers. Because the higher the total claim burden for an insurer, the higher the premiums.
• Cybercrime. Insurers have to deal with attempts by cybercriminals to penetrate company networks on a daily basis. Hackers send phishing emails and scan websites and applications of insurers for weak spots to gain access to confidential and privacy-sensitive data. DDoS and ransomware attacks also pose a threat to business continuity and integrity. And increasingly, cybercrime and insurance fraud are an extension of each other.
• Criminal abuse of insurers' business processes. For example, in the case of money laundering and terrorist financing. Criminals can use their insurance to launder money, and compensation paid out can be used to finance terrorism. There may also be corrupt personnel and business relationships of the insurers.
• Other crime that is directly directed against insurers. For example, insurers can become victims of burglary, extortion or blackmail. Staff may have to deal with aggression and violence.

Vision on tackling insurance crime

In 2020, the CBV set out its vision on the fight against insurance fraud and crime. In the vision document Data and Decisiveness , the focus is on topics such as prevention, data sharing, modern technology and cooperation with chain and public partners.

What does the CBV do?

The CBV assists insurers at operational and policy level in the fight against insurance crime.

Operational support

With its operational services, the CBV supports insurers and other parties in daily practice.

• Information sharing on security matters. The CBV receives information from the security departments of insurers about investigations into fraud and other cases of insurance crime. Insurers, as well as the police and the judiciary, can call on the CBV if they are looking for information in relation to insurance crime. . Under certain conditions, the CBV can put parties in touch with each other. If the CBV does not have information, it can often refer you to an organisation that does. The CBV also receives (anonymous) tips about possible fraud cases and passes them on to the appropriate insurer for further investigation.
• Information sharing and coordination of cyber security. The CBV coordinates and supports the Computer Emergency Response Team for the insurance sector (i-CERT). Insurers and other agencies can report cyber incidents, threats and vulnerabilities to the central i-CERT desk. These are shared (under certain conditions) with the entire sector or specific interested insurers. In the event of large-scale incidents, or cyber issues that affect several parties at the same time, the CBV can play a coordinating role and bring parties together.
• Coordination of large-scale investigations. It happens that several insurers fall victim to the same criminal group or to the same type of scam. The CBV then plays a supporting and coordinating role in bringing together the parties involved and, if necessary, in drawing up a joint declaration.
• Sounding board for procedures and measures. There are strict rules, protocols and codes of conduct for the registration of fraudsters and incidents, and rightly so. Moreover, procedures to deal with an offender are often complicated. Insurers can contact the CBV with questions or for advice on this.
• Data analysis and knowledge transfer. The CBV carries out trend analyses and processes incident reports from insurers. As a result, it signals new modus operandi or conspicuous forms of crime. The CBV shares this information with the sector, for example by means of so-called CBV warnings. As a result, insurers can recognise similar fraud and crime incidents within their own organisation and better manage their risks.

Policy development and support

The CBV also works at the policy level to combat insurance crime.

• Proposing solutions. Based on its expertise, the CBV provides solutions for information exchange, fraud investigation and measures after abuse of, or infringements of, insurance products or processes. This, of course, within the legal frameworks. For example, since 2016, insurers have been charging a compensation of 532 euros to people who demonstrably submit a false claim, based on a lick-on-piece approach developed by the CBV.
• Industry-specific approach and regulations. The CBV is developing a joint approach and regulations for the insurance sector. For example, the Insurers and Crime Protocol contains standards for the way in which insurers tackle insurance crime. The Protocol on the Incident Warning System for Financial Institutions contains the safeguards under which financial institutions can share personal data with each other. And the CERT insurance sector covenant contains agreements between insurers about operational cooperation and information sharing in the field of cybersecurity. This includes, among other things, the organisation and CBV services related to the i-CERT.

CBV services in 2023

Insurers provide a lot of information to both the Fraud Desk and the i-CERT desk of the CBV. As a result, the CBV can provide insurers with good support. After all, the central pooling of knowledge and information is essential to prevent incidents and tackle abuse. Governments and private individuals also know where to find the CBV. In 2023, the CBV has:

• 2,654 incident reports on investigations into possible fraud handled
• 2,368 questions from insurers and 213 information requests from (investigative) authorities answered
• 225 advice on cyber incidents and threats that can affect insurers
• Receive 87 anonymous tips about possible fraud and criminality from concerned citizens

Older data on fraud can be found here.