Insurance cheats range from organized criminal enterprises, to unscrupulous doctors and lawyers, to dishonest body shop operators, to your neighbors.*

Insurance fraud is the second most costly white-collar crime in the U.S., behind tax evasion.*

Facts about fraud by consumers

Fraud by insurance consumers costs the average Washington household $200-300 every year.*

Nationwide, insurance fraud robs us of nearly $80 billion a year.*

More than 1 of every 3 bodily-injury claims from car crashes involve fraud.*

Arson and suspected arson account for nearly 500,000 fires a year, or 1 of every 4 fires in the U.S.*

We have a Special Investigation Unit that investigates criminal insurance fraud in Washington state.

Facts about fraud against consumers

In 2007, 19 insurance licensees were fined or had their insurance licenses suspended or revoked due to fraudulent activity in Washington state.

In 2007, we investigated 91 unlicensed insurers, including individuals and companies.

We investigate a broad range of fraudulent activities by agents and brokers. Following are links to real cases of agents who:

Lied to consumers to get them to buy insurance (676 KB).
Misrepresented a policy's benefits (500 KB).
Marketed annuities that had not been approved for sale (202 KB).
Falsified insurance paperwork and sold unapproved insurance products (147 KB).

* Source: National Insurance Crime Bureau

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