Forensics come to aid of insurance companies to probe fraud

Insurance companies are now increasingly relying on forensic science to help detect fraudulent claims. In fact, Directorate of Forensic Sciences (DFS) has even tied up with ICICI Lombard to train insurance officers to probe frauds the scientific way.

The DFS, in 2011 alone, dealt with 28 cases related to insurance companies and the claims put before them.

The two-year-old union between the science and money groups has already solved almost 100 cases. However, only Reliance and ICICI Lombard are making use of this service provided by the forensic department. 

"There was a case in which an accident claim was put before a company. In that particular case, the person concerned was driving the vehicle. It was the DFS which helped the company detect from the scene of the accident and other evidences that there was no way that the person could be driving the vehicle in the first place," said a source at the institute.

Sandeep Shukla, a forensic insurance claim investigator, said this is the first time in the country that insurance companies are taking the help of a forensic institute to verify claims.

"The idea is to ensure that the actual person gets the rightful claim for the right reason. Not every claim is sham, but forensics is of immense help in cases where the company feels that there is an element of fraud involved," said Shukla, adding that it will take some time before more companies realise the need to involve forensic experts in insurance matters.