Claims News Service, Sept. 9, 3:33 p.m. EST — The International Association of Special Investigation Units (IASIU) awarded its Investigator of the Year Award to Progressive Insurance's Beth Shroat during its annual conference, which is being held this week in Atlanta, Ga.

Shroat won the award by identifying and investigating a multi-million dollar "straw buyer" auto-theft scheme that ultimately led to the dismantling of a violent criminal enterprise.

According to a release from IASIU, the investigation began simply enough. By conducting an organized medical investigation in 2003, Shroat observed an interesting trend associated with several vehicles. Not only were there questions regarding vehicle ownership, but funds were also being drawn from one bank account to secure multiple policies for different people. She determined that there was no connection between the different policyholders. Additionally, the vehicles were all newly purchased, high-end vehicles with lien holders. Based on these initial findings, her investigation took a whole new direction.