Fraud is a roughly $80 billion a year enterprise depending onwhich figures you use. Regardless, the cost to insurers and thegeneral insurance paying public is substantial.

In response to these enterprising fraudsters, insurers havelaunched special investigation units to handle the numerous casesof suspected fraud. I had the opportunity meet some of theseinvestigators at the recent International Association of SpecialInvestigation Units (IASIU) Seminar and Expo on Insurance Fraud andI have a message for all the fraudsters out there – you should belooking for a new line of work.

Walter Swett, the IASIU Seminar chairman, told me that theirgoal was to provide a broad line-up of training so members can stayup to date with the latest trends and techniques. “We want to maketheir lives easier.”

The education sessions taught investigators, many of whom areformer military and law enforcement, what the latest scams are,what to look for, where to look for fraudsters, and how to conducta thorough investigation. I spent a considerable amount of time inthe exhibit hall and saw some of the new technology available toaid in the fraud fight.

If you have a habit of calling insurers and filing false claims,there is technology to track those calls that uses biometrics tocreate a voice print (like using a fingerprint) to identifycallers. The technology isn't fooled by someone who changes theiraccent and the NICE Contact Center Fraud Prevention is creating afraudster database of voice prints to assist insurers in trackingand identifying frequent offenders. Other technology helpsinvestigators analyze their data and specifically supports lawenforcement initiatives.

Social media users have probably left a road map forinvestigators, allowing them to connect the dots between you andyour friends or associates without ever leaving their desks. Thetools available to do internet searches extend way beyond a simpleGoogle or Bing search.

One of my favorite sessions involved learning about staged carfires and the amount of information that can be gathered from aburned out vehicle. We spent an afternoon learning about theproperties of fire, ignition sources, burn patterns, what to lookfor at a burn scene, what types of evidence can be found and themistakes that fraudsters frequently make. While vehicles are one ofthe most difficult scenes to read, they can still provide moreinformation than most people realize. Like a fire in a building,air velocity and direction and impact the direction in which thefire travels.

The next day, our class had the opportunity to inspect twovehicles that had been set on fire two days earlier to look forevidence, burn patterns and try to identify how and where the firesstarted. Then they set a vehicle on fire. It took approximately 8minutes from the time the fire was lit to when it was put out bythe fire department.

If you've never seen a structure or vehicle fire, you may notrealize how quickly the fire can spread and how little time ittakes for a space to become fully engulfed – literally minutes.That's why fire fighters always train people to get out of aburning building as quickly as possible.

You can see some photos of the cars and the burn onPropertyCasualty360.com and look for updates on some of theeducation sessions next week.