As fraudsters continue to play their games, SIUs must keep up with the newand intricate ways that these scams are carried out. There are moreand more questions now being asked of policyholders to ensure thatthey are telling the truth about their claims, but things can getconfusing when thousands of claims follow major catastrophic eventssuch as this summer's Hurricane Irene.

The NICB continues to improve upon and expand its fraud-fighting methods in various ways. One way is by expandingits online presence in order to keep more people in the know.Claims' Catherine Couretas spoke with Joe Wehrle, NICBpresident and CEO, to learn more about the organization'scomprehensive formula for success, which includes a new InteractiveIndicator Guide, webinars, and an aggressive social media plan.

Tell me about the Interactive IndicatorGuide.
What we've done in the past is provide member companies with paperson various types of fraud. They would have to search through thesepapers to try and find the right questions to ask. Now, we have puteverything in an interactive guide, so the information is in onecentral location rather than in 28 sets of papers. Additionally,the information can now be cross-referenced. More questions areasked based on how previous questions are answered. Someone mayencounter a situation and as his or her initial question isanswered, another series of questions populate, referencing theperson to another type of fraud to consider.

What are the results that members companies areseeing from the use of this system?
I know that it has assisted the speed of access to fraudindicators. Instead of shuffling around papers, it can bedownloaded right on the computer. The benefits vary depending onhow a company chooses to use the system. Some questions are nowbeing asked earlier rather than later if these claims are beingreferred directly to the SIU, and some companies grant allemployees access to the system. This is beneficial if the employeereceiving the initial claim call is not that experienced—he or shewill know what basic questions to ask.

Does this compare to systems some insurers mayalready have in place?
I have a feeling that some companies have their own version of thisthat they've devoted a great deal of time to perfecting them overthe years. Some insurers may have just started thinking aboutcreating a similar system, but if they're members, then the use ofour system is already being paid for. Companies can compare systemsto find out which one they would prefer to use. We don't tellmembers what they have to do, we just say, "Here's another benefitof membership that you can take advantage of."

Tell me about the webinars that the NICB will beoffering.
We came up with the idea for webinars because we wanted to offertraining at a time and place that works best for those receivingthe training. It can be difficult for companies to send a largenumber of employees to another location for training, especiallyfinancially. We really wanted to take advantage of new technologiesand mobile webinar training because of the convenience. We know wecan't do three-hour sessions, but maybe we can explore the five to15 minute time frame. For example, we could have a five-minutesession on the analysis of vehicle identification numbers (VINs).Maybe there would be one on medical bill review.

How will this transform the training NICBoffers?
Each year, we train about 14,000 or 15,000 member companyemployees, and we also train up to 20,000 law enforcement officialsat no charge. Why shouldn't we provide these webinars as an optionfor people who may not be able to attend a conference? There are alot of states out there with regulatory requirements for claimsadjusters and insurance agents, so these webinars can help themstay up to date on the latest scams and techniques. It just makessense.

What else has the NICB been doing to stay on top ofthe latest technology?
We will begin releasing a quarterly NICB report on our site and onYouTube to make people more aware of what we are doing as anorganization. We're also really excited about having started ourown social media plan.