“Fraudsters beware we are on your trail, and will find you and arrest you,” is New York Superintendent of Insurance Gregory V. Serio’s message to criminals.

In August 2003, New York officials busted an auto accident insurance ring involving doctors, dentists, psychiatrists, chiropractors and other health care providers. Fraudsters even setup healthcare clinics as part of the scheme. The scams, which stole $48 million from State Farm Insurance, used “runners” and “crash dummies” to stage over 1,000 accidents. The phony clinics and other medical providers billed the driver’s no fault insurance for services for people supposedly injured in the accidents. In reality, the people were usually not injured and did not receive services.

The Suffolk New York District Attorney’s office announced 85 indictments August 12, 2003. “The shear magnitude of this insurance ring should shock the conscience of every honest New Yorker, because it proves that many believe that insurance fraud is an easy way to make money,” said Superintendent Serio.

Scams of this type occur throughout the country. The people who run these scams are probably also committing fraud against health insurance companies. Committing fraud requires motivation, opportunity, and a lack of fear of consequences. Clearly, the organizers of the accident fraud rings are motivated by the desire for more money and are not afraid of the consequences. The skills they have for billing auto insurance are the same that they’d need to submit false claims to health insurance. Talk to your state insurance commissioner and state department of justice about how you can work with them to identify health insurance fraud by people under investigation for auto insurance fraud.

Working together was the key to uncovering this $48 million scam. “This case started out as one investigation of suspected fraud,” Superintendent Serio said. “Because investigators from the Department, Suffolk DAs office, State Police and the Attorney Generals office work from one central location, we were able to cross-check files to expose this intricate scheme, find these criminals and bring them down.”

Read the press release at Insurance Ring Press Release