Manitoba Public Insurance is cracking down on suspected fraudsters and more people than ever before are facing charges.
“Ninety-nine per cent of Manitobans are honest and most of us are great…. but there are the 1 per cent that want to take advantage,” MPI COO Curtis Wennberg said.
MPI receives about 1,000 claims a day, but not all of them are legitimate.
“It costs us on average about $50 per policy we think from auto insurance fraud. It’s significant.”
MPI has an in-house team of special investigators whose sole job is to look into possible fraud cases.
Over the past year, MPI has been more aggressively pursuing charges.
Between 2015 and 2018, fewer than ten people were charged with insurance fraud in the province.
This year alone, MPI said there have been 22 charges so far.
The Crown corporation has found staged car crashes, deliberately set fires and people ‘double dipping.’
“Criminals aren’t the smartest people in society and they leave you a trail of breadcrumbs that are very easy to follow or leave a gas can in a burned vehicle, for example,” Wennberg said.
“Those are less difficult. Some are much trickier and difficult to find and that’s why we have a team of well-trained investigators.”
There are both bodily injury and arson investigators who work in different units to find suspect claims.
“There are some indicators and when you’ve been doing this long enough, you get a feeling pretty quick sometimes that (a claim) is worth looking into,” Special Investigator Jim Lewis said.
Lewis has been an MPI investigator for nine years and specializes in the bodily injury department.
His unit has between 300 and 400 active files.
“It’s interesting when you start reading a report and it’s staring you in the face,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll go out and do surveillance myself. That may be me going to the doctor’s office and watching how the person arrives to their appointment, perhaps.”
“There are times that you sit there shaking your head at just how bold people are.”
Sometimes the cases are more in-depth. Investigators have seen almost everything — from someone claiming their car was stolen with their key to a car lit on fire that had previous transmission or engine problems.
“We used to have people that would hit their own car with hammers to simulate dents for hail.
“We really don’t get that anymore. We’ve become quite good at determining those types of frauds.”
Public tips
While investigators have become good at finding indications of fraud, often they rely on tips from the public.
MPI runs an anonymous tip line where people can call and report information about possible fraudulent claims or cases.
The tip line has handled more than 450 calls so far this year, breaking previous records, said Wennberg.
In the first five months alone, MPI saw a 63 per cent increase in calls compared to the same time period last year.
“Around Valentine’s Day we do get ex-girlfriends or boyfriends usually calling in and saying something they know about auto insurance fraud,” Wennberg said. “We chuckle. It’s a known event at the time.”
Manitobans were saved nearly $13 million in fraudulent claims last year ─ the highest claims savings in a decade.
Anyone with information about auto insurance fraud is encouraged to call the MPI’s TIPS Line: 204-985-8477 or toll-free 1-877-985-8477. All calls are anonymous.