Insurance fraud: the possible consequences

Consequence 2: Cancel coverage.

If insurance fraud is confirmed, the insurer cannot accept the claim submitted. It is therefore possible that an entire claim may be rejected, even if only a small portion is fraudulent. Imagine the following situation: a burglary occurs in your home and as stolen items you report a television and jewelry. You decide to add a cell phone as a stolen item when filing a claim, even though it was not stolen. That's easy money, right? Unfortunately, if the insurer catches you, you run the risk of having the claim invalidated. There you are then stuck with a lot of expenses....

Consequence 3: A spot on the insurer's fraud register

The insurer puts your name in the registry if you insurance has been terminated due to fraudulent practices. This is not a so-called ''blacklist,'' but it is noted in this registry why insurance has been discontinued and when. This is for the purpose of keeping their own insurance company safe from fraudulent customers. The registrations within the insurance company are not visible to others.

Corollary 4: A registration with Stiching CIS

A notation after your name internally with the insurance company is not visible to other insurance companies. A registration with Foundation CIS is! CIS is short for Central Information System. This foundation stores data about insurance that is of interest to insurers in their database. Insurance fraud is one example, but defaulters are also listed here, as are driving disqualifications and information about people with criminal records. This is done to make risk transparent to insurers. This data can be retrieved by insurers from the national database. This prevents fraud as much as possible.

If you get a CIS registration, it is difficult to join a new insurance company. The chance of an insurance application being refused increases greatly if you are registered for fraud. This leaves only one insurance company you can join: the Vereende. This is a specialized insurance company that deals with insurance in special situations.

Consequence 5: Declaration of fraud to the CBV

Insurance fraud can also be detrimental to your career (opportunities). Reporting to the Center for Combating Insurance Crime (CBV) detracts from a good first impression when applying for a job in the insurance industry/a financial institution. The CBV is a unit within the Association of Insurers. This unit helps insurers combat fraud and other forms of insurance scams. When you apply for a job, a company can see the CBV's information and get information about any fraud cases that have occurred in the past.

Consequence 6: Monetary penalty, cost of investigation and increase in insurance premium

Fraud is unacceptable and has financial consequences. Since the year 2016, a monetary penalty of €532 is imposed on fraudsters. This measure was drawn up by SODA. Important here is that the insurer must be able to prove the fraud. This often requires an investigation. The costs of such an investigation can be substantial, especially if an expert investigation is required. If it turns out that fraud has been committed, the costs will be recovered from the person who committed the fraud.

On top of that, the new insurance will cost more. It is only possible with a scam endorsement to get insurance from De Vereende. For this, you pay extra premium for you insurance and are obliged to pay three months in advance, because you are seen as a riskier policyholder. Finally, on top of this comes a security deposit. This can be used to offset unpaid premium, should you be late in paying.

Consequence 7: Reporting to the police station.

After all, the insurer can take the step of reporting fraud to the police. This rarely happens in practice, but if there is a high amount or organized crime, many insurers take this step.