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The General Insurance Association of Singapore (GIA) has introduced a scheme that will reward up to SG$10,000 to individuals that report insurance fraud cases that lead to successful prosecution and conviction of offenders.
The GIA Insurance Fraud Tip-off (GIFT) scheme will launch on March 05, and will reward tipsters up to SG$10,000, based on the equivalent value of the fraudulent claim. In case there is more than one informant to a case, the investigation panel will decide on the reward allocation for each informant.
According to a statement from the association, GIFT is part of its efforts to increase participation of all stakeholders – including general insurers, regulators, and members of the public – to collectively combat insurance fraud and mitigate rapid inflation of claims costs. Most insurance fraud cases in Singapore come from the motor, travel, and personal accident insurance segments.
GIFT builds on the GIA’s fraud management system, which employs data analytics and artificial intelligence to detect fraud cases for motor and travel insurance. Introduced in 2017, the system has been able to flag over 9,000 suspicious motor and travel claims.
The recently announced Criminal Law Reform Bill considers dishonest or fraudulent intent to deceive a victim as an offence, rather than the effect of deception of the victim.
“Insurance fraud costs the industry millions of dollars each year and affects both insurers and consumers,” said Chang Sucheng, GIA insurance fraud committee convenor. “We introduced this scheme to encourage members of the public to play a more pro-active role in tackling this problem together so that insurance in Singapore remains accessible.”
To qualify for the reward scheme, individuals must submit, through the GIA’s website, documentary evidence such as detailed descriptions of how the fraud was conducted, electronic document trails, actual copies of forged or tampered documents, or any another physical evidence that can prove the suspected fraud.
