26.09.2022

How does VIEWAPP solve the problem of fraud in property insurance?

In insurance, particularly in property insurance, the problem of fraud is very acute because the amount of fabricated damage can run into the millions, and that is not all the insurer's losses, there are also indirect costs which are quite significant.

Last but not least, to prevent fraudulent attempts, there is a mechanism of inspection and evaluation of an object during the initial acceptance for insurance. Different insurers have different ways of implementing it:

- Some insurance companies have their own mobile apps with inspection functions;

- Some companies practice insurance underwriting by photos and videos provided by the insured themselves (possibly even along with their own APP for inspection).

- The most advanced insurance companies have implemented a full cycle of digital VIEWAPP inspections with guaranteed fraud protection.

Let's take the example of one insurance company to see how fraudsters carry out their schemes and how VIEWAPP can prevent such situations. According to Banki.ru, the insurance company Soglasiye has identified the most common pattern of fraudulent behavior when insuring out-of-town buildings. It looks as follows:

Some cheap house as a result of some simple manipulation (a frame made of cheap materials, which is coated with decent materials like siding and inner lining), is sent for insurance under the guise of elite property, and then as a result of a trumped-up insured event is burnt to the ground with the presentation of an application for compensation to the insurer, which is even supported by various "evidence" of the supposedly elite housing. Fake receipts for the cost of finishes, equipment and other things are used for this purpose.

So in Vladimir region a fraudster tried a similar scheme and insured a nonexistent in fact "mansion" for 6.5 million rubles. The mansion was replaced by a fabricated building. And for the sake of plausibility the fraudster purchased various household items, and installed some engineering equipment (toilet, sink, etc.), which was not connected to any utilities, that is, the house was totally unfit for habitation and, of course, was not worth the claimed sum insured.

The fraudster had to be identified through an expert examination and a thorough check of the documents, which means that even though the insurer was able to avoid direct damage to the amount of over 6 million rubles, it still incurred significant costs of the case:

- Initial admission to insurance with the drawing up of the policy and all the regulatory procedures, including inspection in some form or another.

- The application procedure for the insured event, which was just the cost of the examination and document review.

As for exactly how fake mansions are infiltrated by insurance, it appears that the inspection tools used by the insurance company do not immediately screen out fraudsters at the insurance acceptance stage.

With VIEWAPP, the penetration of fake properties into insurance is minimized. VIEWAPP, the digital inspection platform, consists of web access for the inspection operators and is supplemented by a mobile VIEWAPP app, through which the inspection itself is conducted either by the insured or the insurer's representative. In the web interface, the inspection operator drafts a complete inspection script with all the regulations and details, with step-by-step prompts, so that the inspection is carried out quickly, in maximum detail and without errors. VIEWAPP has several mechanisms built in to guarantee the authenticity of the photos and videos presented.

The method of storing the photos and videos is a separate secure storage in the application itself, not a smartphone gallery. VIEWAPP has several security features to prevent fraud:

- User identification at the authorization step;

- An SSL certificate providing data encryption;

- Geolocation of the device, allowing you to compare information with graphical data;

- Use of other smartphone sensors, such as compass, accelerometer;

- Storage of materials with the calculation and reconciliation of checksums, etc;

For the inspection operator, the resulting high-quality photo and video material from the VIEWAPP app will be the perfect ground for analysis and initial expertise when accepting insurance, which will screen out abusers who try to insure non-existent mansions. VIEWAPP is just as effective at settling claims.