Plymouth Rock Assurance takes an active role reporting insurance fraud, but we also need your help to fight against it. If you know or suspect that someone is committing insurance fraud, please report it.
How to report fraud
- New Jersey customers can call Plymouth Rock’s anonymous NJ fraud hotline,
855-FRAUD-NJ. - Massachusetts customers can call the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts,
800-323-7283. - New York customers can call Plymouth Rock’s anonymous NY fraud hotline,
833-241-4522. - Customers in any state can call the National Insurance Crime Bureau,
800-835-6422 or file a report online.
What is insurance fraud?
Insurance fraud is any act committed with the intent to deceive an insurer for the purpose of profit or gain. Insurance fraud may involve making false representations on an insurance application, exaggerating or inflating an insurance claim and billing for services never rendered.
Insurance fraud also occurs when an insured intentionally misrepresents facts in order to obtain a lower premium. For example, automobile premium fraud occurs when an insured misrepresents their marital status, drivers in their household, driving history or garaging of their vehicles. There are many examples of car insurance fraud, homeowners insurance fraud and medical fraud.
Insurance fraud, like all other types of fraud, is illegal in all states. It is a serious crime with serious consequences. Be on the lookout for red flags. If something doesn’t seem right, it probably isn’t.
Did you know?
More than three-quarters of consumers say they’re more likely to commit insurance fraud during an economic downturn than during normal times.
More than two-thirds of consumers say they believe insurance fraud happens because people believe they can get away with it.
One in five U.S. adults — about 45 million people — say it’s acceptable to defraud insurance companies under certain circumstances. Four in five adults think insurance fraud is unethical.
About one in ten people agree it’s acceptable to submit claims for items that aren’t lost or damaged or for personal injuries that didn’t occur. Two in five people are “not very likely” or “not likely at all” to report someone who defrauded an insurer.
Staged-accident rings con auto insurers out of billions of dollars each year by billing for unnecessary treatment of phantom injuries. Usually these are phony soft-tissue injuries such as sore backs or whiplash, which are difficult to medically dispute.
Dishonest drivers try to lower auto premiums by lying on their insurance application or renewal. Among the deceptions: registering their vehicles in locales where premiums are lower; low-balling their stated mileage; and saying a commercial vehicle is used mainly for personal use.
Source for all statistics: https://insurancefraud.org/fraud-stats/
Additional resources
- New Jersey Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor
- New Hampshire Insurance Department Fraud Unit
- Massachusetts Insurance Fraud Bureau
- New York Department of Financial Services
- National Insurance Crime Bureau
- Coalition Against Insurance Fraud
- Scam Alerts
