Today's fraud investigation teams still are led by former law enforcement personnel, but the look of today's antifraud efforts for property/casualty insurers is changing. Carriers are turning to data analysis as their weapon of choice in the fight to recover some of the estimated $80 billion carriers industrywide annually lose to criminals–professional and otherwise.

“We've got a lot of people doing just analysis,” says John Sargent, director of the special investigations unit for MetLife Auto & Home. “They're not in the field. They're doing desk investigations and then sending [referrals] to the field, or they're completing the entire investigation at their desks. [Technology] has changed the complexion of our whole unit,” he adds.

Fraud departments are moving toward information intelligence and specialties such as information analysis, according to Dave Rioux, assistant vice president and manager of corporate security and investigative services for Erie Insurance Group. With new technology tools being developed, the focus is on finding the right people to operate the tools. Case intelligence units and information specialists have been spawned. “There are few companies that have a total solution where you have electronic fraud detection tools on the front end and data-mining tools and intelligence analysts on the back end using that information and supporting the field investigators,” Rioux says.