The investigation of insurance fraud is going high-tech.
While Flrodia private investigator Paul Colbert used to catch workers comp fraudsters by the tried-and-true methods – endless stakeouts and wearing out plenty of shoe-leather – these days he’s using remote cameras and even drones, according to a report by Tampa NBC affiliate WFLA.
Colbert and his team at Meridian Investigative Group are now employing high-tech hidden cameras that activate in response to motion, follow targets and even zoom in – all automatically.
“These are smart cameras,” Colbert told WFLA. “The technology’s built into these. It’s all software-based and it allows us to monitor these folks without having to sit in front of these cameras.”
Colbert’s team even uses remote-control drones – including one that caught a supposedly disabled man tossing around 200-pound railroad ties, WFLA reported.
“If you’re injured and you deserve it then yeah we’re not here to take that,” Colbert told WFLA. “But what we are here to do is to police folks who are out there ripping off the system. … We’re not here to take anything from people who are legitimately injured.”
