Mexico Beach, Florida, United States October 26, 2018. 16 days after Hurricane Michael, Canal Park. Credit: Terry Kelly/Shutterstock.com David Glawe, president and CEO of the NICB, said: “After most disasters, these shameful contractors use well-rehearsed, predatory practices to exploit stressed disaster victims when they are most vulnerable. As a result, survivors pay these bad actors who do little or no work.” (Credit: Terry Kelly/Shutterstock.com)

In 2021, property & casualty insurers paid an additional $4.6 billion-$9.2 billion in disaster claims as a result of fraud, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB).

The NICB estimates fraud adds 5%-10% to the overall amount in claims paid after a disaster. The FBI found similar results when looking at reconstruction costs following Hurricane Katrina: Of the $80 billion in government funding to aid rebuilding efforts, insurance fraud accounted for $6 billion, or about 7.5%.

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Steve Hallo

Steve Hallo is managing editor of PropertyCasualty360.com. He can be reached at [email protected].  

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