We're not talking global warming here — that's not “immediate.”That can go on the back burner (no pun intended) for the sake ofthis discussion. We are talking about the impending staggeringincrease in instances of fraud perpetrated against the insuranceindustry.

Consider these facts:

• In the middle of August, gasoline consumption and prices wereboth at all-time highs.
• The Middle East is in continual conflict, a conflict that isdangerously close to interfering with oil import distributionchannels.
• The political stability of our sources for imported oil getsshakier by the minute (those sources that have not — temporarily,at least — evaporated).
• Anonymous sources now are predicting that gasoline prices couldexceed $5 per gallon, and possibly approach $6 by the end of theyear.
• BP has just shut down one of our major sources of crude fromAlaska for an indefinite period, reducing our domestic capacity byapproximately 8 percent.
• The 2006 hurricane season, an average one at this writing,isn't over yet; even one or two bad storms in the Gulf Coast areacould wreak further devastation to our refining capacity.
• We're experiencing an appalling lack of savvy on the part ofour federal leadership to effectively curb or positively influencethe dangerous situations facing us on the world stage. This canonly exacerbate, if not intensify, tensions throughout theworld.
• And finally, corruption at the highest corporate levels has seta terrible example — and a skewed (lack of) morality lesson — thatis destined to poison the Everyman mentality.

This scenario is likely to encourage fraud activity the likes ofwhich haven't been seen before. Desperate people do desperatethings. And desperate people who already have lost everything,including any remnants of self respect, will go to desperatelengths to merely survive.

Adjusters and SIUs are going to be hard-pressed more than everas new schemes emerge throughout insurance markets. That includesauto, homeowners', marine and inland marine, workers' compensation,and various surplus lines.

Sad but true, the time is fast approaching when all of thatfraud tracking technology you installed (right?) is going to comein quite handy in identifying suspicious claims. And that SIUdepartment, which you sometimes envied for having more“interesting” duties and objectives than adjusters, is going to behard-pressed to meet the new challenges and stay ahead of thegame.

Remember, you're the industry's last and best line of defense tofight fraud. And one of the best ways to do that is to stay on topof your game through continuing education. In addition to the IASIUConference, scheduled for Sept. 10-13 in LaQuinta, Calif., you haveanother great educational opportunity by registering for the secondannual California Insurance Fraud Symposium. This one is slated forOct. 24-25 at the Torrance Marriott in Torrance, Calif., and willemphasize best practices from companies such as PrudentialFinancial, Farmers, and Liberty Mutual, to name a few. Moreinformation is available at www.fraudsymposium.com.