With people treating their social media accounts like diaries they want everyone to see, it’s no wonder insurers are looking into these to detect fraudulent medical claims.

“People live their lives online a lot more. We use what is publicly available,” The Guardian quotes insurer Aviva’s head of fraud, Tom Gardiner, as saying. 

Just this month, Metro reported that a bodybuilder who had said a back injury in 2012 had left him wheelchair-bound and had made whiplash and personal injury claims worth over £50,000 was in fact posting photos on social media of himself next to a new Mercedes and celebrating with champagne.P

Video of the man doing a push-up challenge – complete with a child on his back – was also obtained. He was also seen working out at a gym and using weights.

A United Kingdom court ordered that he pay £35,000 in legal fees, with the judge saying he had lied for years about his health and had tricked the Department of Work and Pensions into paying him benefits he did not need.

Another case of social media uncovering scammers involved an Aviva customer, who said he experienced neck and back pain after a car reversed into his vehicle, The Guardian reported. 

But just months later, he tweeted a photo of himself taking part in a ten-kilometer race – on top of a mountain, at that.

That, combined with the fact that the man had not sought medical attention after the accident and had showed up for his manual job three weeks in a row without a day off, led the insurer to drop his claim.

A judge even ordered the customer to pay Aviva over £9,000 in costs.

According to The Guardian, insurers can verify clients’ claims by logging on to social networking sites and searching for their profiles by typing in their names, e-mail addresses, or telephone numbers there. Facebook status updates, YouTube videos, and Tweets appearing publicly are all fair game.

In one instance, said law firm DAC Beachcroft’s head of intelligence, Kate Abrahams, a parent wrote on Facebook, “I am pleased my child was not in the car,” but presented a claim for the same child. 

Such “desktop investigations can be used “to prove someone was not there, to prove the accident did not happen, to prove that people who say they don’t know each other do know each other,” The Guardian cited Abrahams as saying.

In these cases, the claimants themselves are providing evidence against themselves.

Forbes, meanwhile, pointed to the Internet of Things as another resource for insurers who want to ensure that their clients’ claims are valid.

An example it gave was of a woman “who had been receiving insurance payouts to cover her inability to work due to an injury.” 

Her running app, however, revealed that she in fact frequented sporting events that a truly injured person would not have been able to join.

Forbes reported that the woman’s insurance payments were cut in half afterwards.

Social media platforms are here to stay and although it’s primary purpose is for entertainment and socialization, they can be used as resources for investigation and research. Contact TukkoMed today!

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