For claims professionals, social media has become a treasuretrove of evidence to help investigate and defeat fraudulentclaims.

Insureds don't seem to understand that if you're claiming thatyou damaged your car on the freeway, you shouldn't post pictures onYouTube of you actually crashing it while engaging in riskybehavior.

Loss of Corvette

Robert Atlas reported to GEICO that he had crashed his 2012 CorvetteStingray while exiting the I-10 freeway, on the exit ramp at WildHorse Pass in Chandler, Ariz. Atlas was paid $61,465 by GEICO forthe loss of his Corvette.

It was later discovered that on Oct. 10, 2015, Atlas hadactually raced his Corvette Stingray in a drag race at a dragracing event at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. He subsequently lostcontrol of his car during the race and crashed into the concretebarrier totaling the Corvette.

Drag racing exclusion

The crash was captured on a Go-Pro video and published on YouTube. The policy doesnot cover damage caused to the vehicle if it was involved in dragracing. Atlas was later shown the video footage, and he admitted tomaking the false claim to GEICO Insurance.

On Jan. 25, 2017 Atlas pled guilty to insurance fraud and asrequired by the plea agreement he paid the entire amount ofrestitution back to GEICO prior to sentencing. He was sentenced totwo years supervised probation and was assessed $1,560 in courtcosts.

The case was investigated by the Arizona Department of Insurance Fraud Unit andprosecuted by the Arizona Attorney General's Office.