The Insurance Bureau of Canada is using Crime Stoppers Month as an opportunity to again remind the public about the high cost of insurance fraud.
January is Crime Stoppers Month in Ontario, where high auto insurance premiums are often linked to fraud. IBC cites estimates from KPMG that auto insurance fraud in Ontario is as high as $1.6 billion annually, and the organization says staged collisions, and abuse and overuse of insurance benefits contribute to higher premiums for all policyholders
IBC recently teamed up with the Ontario Association of Crime Stoppers to provide another way for consumers to submit their tips about suspected insurance fraud and vehicle theft. IBC and Crime Stoppers work together so that anonymous tips to the organization will be sent to police and to IBC's Investigative Services.
"Crime Stoppers works and is an effective tool for citizens to report suspected crime. Partnerships with Crime Stoppers and other key stakeholders in law enforcement are essential to beating increasingly sophisticated insurance crime," Rick Dubin, vice president of Investigative Services at IBC noted in a statement.
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