Fraud of the Week

Arson – Florida

It's not unusual for authorities to use dogs for various tasks helping authorities find drugs or other illegal substances in luggage or vehicles. Dogs are also used to find accelerants in fire investigations as well. State Farm has a program providing dogs trained to sniff at fire scenes for various accelerants that could indicate that a fire was intentionally set, helping investigators determine the cause of the fire and whether insurance fraud was a possible motive. Since 1993 State Farm's Arson Dog Program has put more than 425 arson dogs in forty-six states throughout the country, including the District of Columbia. Each dog and handler receives 200 hours of training and the dogs live with their handlers.