Less than one year after its unsuccessful pursuit of Transatlantic Holdings, Validus Holdings says it reached an agreement to buy Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings for about $623 million in cash and stock.

A recent string of copycat scams in southern Florida highlight a growing national problem.

Identifying common "red flags" that may indicate a claim potentially contains a fraudulent element or points to a malingering claimant.

Fraud has become the industrys public enemy number one, a relentless leviathan siphoning $30 billion from P&C insurers annually.