NICB's 'The Informer' Explores the Power of Data in Fighting Insurance Crime

DES PLAINES, Ill., Dec. 13, 2021 — The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), the insurance industry’s association dedicated to predicting, preventing, and prosecuting insurance crime, announces the release of its latest issue of The NICB Informer.

The Winter edition brings data into focus—namely exploring how it is used by criminals to commit fraud and other crimes, and how NICB is using data and intelligence to help identify and pursue the dismantlement of criminal enterprises in partnership with law enforcement and NICB’s special investigation unit partners.

“While the sophistication of criminal activity has improved, so too has the ability to use information in new and innovative ways to counteract illegal actors,” said David Glawe, president and CEO of the National Insurance Crime Bureau. “As I think about the challenges our investigators and law enforcement partners face in fighting insurance fraud and crime, I see tremendous opportunity to advance our mission by leveraging these partnerships and connecting the dots between unique data sets to illuminate unknown criminal networks.”

To proactively identify emerging trends in insurance fraud, NICB is leveraging its access to unique data assets in innovative ways, with a focus on rapidly identifying criminal networks that impact policyholders and cause an untold amount of loss. Proactive analysis, with a focus on speed and efficiency, is a major focus of NICB’s data strategy as is the development of machine-learning capabilities.

“NICB is going to use what we gain from machine learning as one of many guideposts for our analysts and agents,” said Matthew Barr, NICB senior data scientist. “It is new technology assisting in the implementation of the tried-and-true investigation and analytical techniques that are a hallmark of NICB’s operations.”

Also discussed in this issue is the persistent risk of cyberattacks. Cyber threats remain one of the most significant strategic risks for the United States, threatening our national security, economic prosperity, and public health and safety. Cybercrime is not limited to large-scale attacks on corporations and governments. On a more personal level, synthetic identity fraud and elder financial exploitation are two emerging schemes with cyber crossover that we describe in the Winter edition. NICB will continue to monitor the cyber threat landscape closely as part of its overall mission to unitedly combat and prevent insurance crime through intelligence-driven operations.

Now in its second year of publication, The NICB Informer is aimed at providing insurance industry executives with anticipatory intelligence to help identify risks and emerging threats to the industry. Anyone interested in receiving digital copy notification can sign up or send an email to TheNICBInformer@nicb.org to be added to the distribution.