MIB steps up fight against fraud

The Motor Insurers Bureau is using a new web based workflow management system in its fight against fraud.

SIRA (Syndicated Intelligence for Risk Avoidance) uses a database of frauds recorded across a range of industry sectors, including banking, financial services, insurance and mail order credit.

The MIB hopes that Sira will help it target fraudsters, ranging from one-off opportunistic fraudsters, to serial claimants, and the criminal gangs now heavily involved in the creation of staged and induced motor accidents.

Ian Johnstone, anti fraud manager at the MIB, said:“A specialist claims unit was first set up by the MIB seven years ago but has increased significantly in size in the last two years.

“Implementing the use of SIRA within the unit will deliver significant benefits to the Bureau in the fight against the fraudster. At the same time it will help the Bureau to identify those cases which have no fraud indicators and can be moved forward quickly to settlement, a key objective of the MIB.

“Whilst data of the previous claims record of claimants and other parties to an accident has been used by the Bureau’s anti-fraud team for some years, SIRA adds a new dimension in that it automatically ‘washes’ all parties who have given their consent through the SIRA database within 24 hours of the claim notification. This gives the team a very early indication of individuals and companies who feature in the database.”

The MIB has also recently appoint a fraud analyst, who comes from a serious crime investigation background, to assist in the collation and analysis of intelligence for such unlawful claims.

Johnstone concluded: “It is generally recognised within the insurance industry that the MIB database holds valuable information on third party motor claims including, uniquely fraudulent claims involving untraced drivers. The platform is now in place for future sharing of this information through SIRA as the Bureau provides the outcome of cases investigated by the anti-fraud team.”