N.Y. Nabs 554 For Insurance Fraud In '01

By Daniel Hays

NU Online News Service, Jan. 17, 12:14 p.m. EST?New York State's Insurance Department, which is battling a $1 billion a year consumer fraud problem, said yesterday that it had made a record number of arrests last year.

In 2001, the department said, its 40-member Frauds Bureau arrested 554 people, 51 more than in 2000. It also reported 210 convictions and 194 persons sentenced.

The statistics were contained in Insurance Superintendent Gregory V. Serio's announcement of the department's Annual Frauds Report.

According to the report, the department changed its philosophy in 2001 and "directed the Frauds Bureau to focus more resources on criminal rather than civil cases." One result was that fines collected in 2001 amounted to $180,013 compared with $314,718 the previous year.

Mr. Serio used the occasion of the report's release to call on the legislature to make legal changes he has asked for to fight fraud.

One proposal would make it a felony for persons to act as "runners," recruiting patients and clients for medical providers and attorneys involved in phony accident and injury treatment fraud schemes.

Mr. Serio said the department can continue to make record numbers of arrests, but without tougher laws to address insurance fraud, "we can assure that the department's efforts and those of our law enforcement colleagues will continue to be frustrated by an inability to have arrests lead to consequential convictions."

Included in the frauds report is the agency's outline for fighting fraud this year, which it said will include partnering with insurance companies to focus on no-fault insurance fraud issues at the underwriting level.

The effort will also involve collaboration with district attorneys and other state and federal authorities, the department said.

In the wake of the terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center, the department said it had established a procedure for fast-tracking WTC-related fraud claims.

The department said, although it has seen nothing yet, it anticipates a spike in the number of fraudulent claims related to the WTC attack.

It based this expectation, it said, on "the scope of the disaster, the easing of normal requirements in order to expedite payments to victims and the amount of money available from insurers, federal and state emergency management offices and private charities."

Last year the Fraud Bureau established a Triage Unit to choose among the 26,028 reports of fraud it received for cases with the most potential for successful prosecution. The bureau said it opened 939 new cases, of which 403 involved workers' compensation fraud.

The department reported that anti-fraud activity last year resulted in $6.6 million being paid in court ordered restitution and $1.8 million in voluntary restitution.

Among reports of fraud by type, the top five categories were: no-fault auto, 15,219; auto theft, 2,085; workers' compensation, 1,733; health-accident, 1,572, and collision, 1,129.

The bureau said it gave 60 training sessions to 3,948 insurance and law enforcement personnel.

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N.Y. Nabs 554 For Insurance Fraud In '01

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