• Home
  • Home
  • The Hanover's fraud awareness
  • The Hanover's fraud awareness

The Hanover's fraud awareness

The policy of The Hanover is to provide its products and services to individuals, families and businesses to meet their insurance needs and to pay claims for any legitimate loss from the coverage provided.

The various areas of insurance offer a wide variety of opportunity for abuse. Staged car accidents, orchestrated slip and fall claims, rate evasion to save premium, false worker's compensation claims and fabricated burglaries all have one common element. They are fraud, plain and simple. The Hanover recognizes the role that it serves in the fight to control the rising cost of insurance and controlling fraud is a main element of that fight.

The Hanover endeavors to detect and prevent insurance fraud through a systematic program of identification, investigation, resolution and prosecution of those abuses. The Hanover further commits to cooperate with the various entities that are also committed to fighting fraud, such as state fraud bureaus, law enforcement and any localized anti fraud program. When abuse is identified in the process it is the position of The Hanover to resist and defend those cases through the policies that we have established.
 

What is insurance fraud?

Insurance fraud is the abuse of the insurance system for financial gain. The legal definition of fraud is making a material misrepresentation or failing to disclose a material fact in order to induce another to give up something of value. Learn how to protect yourself from insurance fraud.

  • Medical fraud: Insurance fraud involving medical schemes is the largest form of fraud in the nation. It may involve complex billing schemes, providers billing for treatment not performed, performing medical procedures that are unnecessary, inappropriate or even dangerous for financial gain.
  • Staged or intended accidents: Causing accidents for the purpose of creating a claim wherein parties to the fraud can collect on the policy for both medical treatment and/or physical damage.
  • Homeowner or commercial property fraud: There are various forms of property insurance fraud; intentional damage such as arson, false water loss damage, fictitious burglaries and theft losses, inventory scams and the like are a few of the ways that property fraud is committed.
  • Workers' compensation fraud: Employees who stage accidents to cover up injuries suffered outside of the work place, malingering and exaggerated injuries resulting from a real loss and premium avoidance by misclassifying workers are a few of the ways to commit this act.
  • Slip and falls: Individuals target businesses by pretending to injure themselves in a fall on the premises. Sometimes the people involved in the act will create a risk, such as placing an object on the floor and then falling, then set up the "fall" in an area without witnesses or with an accomplice.
     

Anti-fraud insurance program

The Hanover is committed to combating insurance fraud in every line of business that we write. The program is simple, work to fight insurance fraud in all its forms and protect our policyholders and shareholders from the impact of insurance fraud. 

The Hanover has established the special investigation unit (SIU) as part of the company's anti-fraud program. The Hanover SIU is responsible for implementation of all anti-fraud activities for all lines of Hanover business and for all Hanover member companies. The responsibility of The Hanover SIU is to provide investigative support to the company and assist in the resolution of suspicious and fraudulent insurance activities. The SIU is based in Worcester, Massachusetts, which is the home office location for The Hanover. Field SIU operations report to the home office and are responsible for investigation on a regional basis.

 

Reporting insurance fraud

Insurance fraud, whether it is a staged accident, a property loss scheme, slip and fall or a rate evasion scam, are all criminal acts. The Hanover maintains a fraud hotline number at 800-799-6980 to enable any person to report any insurance fraud activities anonymously. A key element in combating insurance fraud is to report any insurance fraud activity to The Hanover at our toll free number.

The Hanover works with our agency partners, our insureds, shareholders and the general public to identify and fight insurance fraud. It is our goal and mission to fight fraud with our strategic partners and a key element in the process is reporting fraud. Individuals may report any type of fraud, whether it is with Hanover or another carrier and our dedicated SIU staff will handle the information in an effective and confidential manner. Many states also have fraud bureaus that have hot line numbers and they can be found on the internet.

 

 

Fraud hotline

800-799-6980

 

Additional anti-fraud resources

 

National Insurance Grime bureau

nicb.org – The Hanover has partnered with the National Insurance Crime Bureau ("NICB") to fight insurance fraud. NICB is a not-for-profit organization that receives support from The Hanover and over 1,000 other property/casualty insurance companies. The main purpose of this partnership is to provide a resource to our shareholders, customers and employees in the fight against insurance fraud and to provide a communication forum on the issue.

Coalition Against Insurance Fraud Logo

insurancefraud.org – The Hanover is an active member of The National Coalition Against Insurance Fraud. The coalition is one of America's most trusted and credible organization engaged in the fighting of insurance fraud. The organization is made up of Insurers and public advocate members committed to the fight against insurance fraud. Together, The Hanover and the other members of the organization are working to control everyone's insurance costs, protect the public safety, and communicate the impact of insurance fraud on our industry.

New york Alliance against Insurance Fraud

fraudny.com – The Hanover is an active member of The New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud (NYAAIF). The Alliance was founded in 1999 to assist insurers with complying with New York State Regulation 95, which requires insurance companies to sponsor public awareness programs on insurance fraud. The Alliance is the leading advertiser in the state of New York on the effects and potential solutions to the crime of insurance fraud. This web site provides information for insurers and customers alike on identifying and avoiding fraud.

Insurance Fraud Bureau

www.ifb.org – The Hanover has maintained an active role in the The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts. The IFB is a unique and multifaceted investigative agency dedicated to the systematic elimination of fraudulent insurance transactions in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the home state of The Hanover. Authorized by an act of the Massachusetts Legislature and signed into law in 1990, the Insurance Fraud Bureau conducts criminal investigations and refers appropriate cases for criminal prosecution.