The day to day challenges claims investigators/adjusters face are many. An inbox that’s always full and a phone that’s always ringing are constantly competing for attention. Activities like background checks, loss history reports, and interviews, all add to the list of important daily functions taking place –usually before lunch! But social media investigations for insurance claims can be helpful in sorting through cases.
There are no real shortcuts in this systematic process. Each component of a claim is crucial. Thorough claims investigations are essential to reducing the incidence of insurance fraud –that illegal activity that contributes to ever increasing premiums.
Information garnered through social media is becoming a valuable resource for claims and Special Investigations Unit (SIU) professionals. The reason? Many people are eager to create digital logs of their every move on social media sites, with abandon! In 2017, it’s easy to understand why social media is a major source of information.
Let’s face it; there are tens of thousands of pages of social media sites on the internet, all containing posts of people sharing things they’re doing every day. Evidence needed to support or refute a questionable claim might be visible on social media platforms.
But what claim manager or SIU agent has the time to search out, verify, and sift through all the information social media sites provide? A third-party resource with the ability to extract this valuable information is every claims professional’s new best friend.
What kinds of claims are candidates for a thorough social media investigation?
- Slip and fall claims
- Exaggerated bodily injury claims stemming from car accidents
- Questionable Worker’s Compensation injury claims
There is one principle all insurers can agree on: Pay what is owed, and flush out what isn’t.
4 benefits of using a third-party for social media and web investigations:
Time
The one constant that’s working against every claims manager and SIU professional is time.
In daily background investigations, it’s an unfortunate fact that most insurance professionals don’t have the time to work through the lists of potential data on a subject that may not even be the right person. The internet is a trove of publicly available information that can help investigate suspicious or fraudulent insurance claims, if only they had the time to decipher it all.
A third-party social media investigation firm that specializes in capturing such information in a forensically sound manner answers this call, freeing up time to focus on the rest of your work.
Consistency
A reliable third-party social media investigation firm like SMI uses certified experts to extract relevant content connected to your claim. Reports are delivered in a consistent format and provide a consistent level of information in a layout that’s easy to read. If an organization has multiple people conducting social media or web searches, the inevitable result will be multiple variations of information.
Compliance
A crucial aspect of bringing social media evidence into a case is compliance. Evidence must be defensible to be admissible if the claim ends up in litigation. A simple screenshot of a post isn’t defensible. Screenshots can be altered resulting in questionable or tainted content. Any self-procured social media evidence may result in the curator being placed on the witness stand.
A good third-party social media expert will be able to supply affidavits and expert witnesses to authenticate the data collected, along with its preservation. They will also be able to describe the digital chain of custody of the data.
Completeness
Claims professionals understand the necessity of conducting thorough investigations. Coverage decisions must be exact and precise. The same diligence applies to any outsourced reporting information the adjuster or investigator uses.
A trusted third-party social media investigator like those at SMI will provide complete evidence preservation, customized for your case. They use algorithms to ethically search social media, search engines, and the deep web to capture and preserve evidence that evades many investigators as well as Software as a Service (SaaS) products.
Reliable and trusted sources of information are invaluable to all professionals. Third-party social media investigators are tools that should be in every claims professional’s shed.
