Monday, April 25, 2011
(Oklahoma City) - Nearly 150 members of law enforcement, special investigators and executives from insurance companies, and licensed adjusters gathered in Oklahoma City recently to take part in the Oklahoma Insurance Department’s 2011 Anti-Fraud Task Force.
The event on the afternoon of April 13 was organized by Randy Brogdon, OID’s deputy commissioner of fraud and consumer affairs. Insurance Commissioner John Doak and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt used the occasion to announce heightened inter-agency cooperation to combat fraud.
Commissioner Doak has witnessed fraud firsthand, as a licensed agent, a corporate executive and now as the elected regulator of the industry in Oklahoma. He is determined to fight fraud as this state’s insurance commissioner, vowing to make Oklahoma “a dangerous place to be an insurance criminal.”
Attorney General Pruitt echoed that tough stance at the Task Force.
“There are new sheriffs in town at both the attorney general’s office and the Insurance Department,” Pruitt said.
Keynote speaker Tom Welsh, vice-president of training at the National Insurance Crime Bureau, interspersed humor with some chilling news about the guile and tenacity of fraud perpetrators. The annual cost of insurance fraud is estimated at $80 billion, Welsh said, or about 10 percent of all claims paid in the United States. Welsh told of an insurance fraud ring, eventually busted, in which the leader later claimed “there was not a person in the 31-person indictment who didn’t make $1 million.”
He warned that the insurance industry, law enforcement and government must respond cooperatively to combat growing and fast-evolving fraud trends.
“These are coordinated, organized groups,” Welsh said of fraud syndicates. “You have to have a coordinated, organized response. … Fighting fraud is a team sport.”
Elaine Dodd, vice-president of fraud and training for the Oklahoma Bankers Association, spent 22 years in law enforcement prior to joining that organization, retiring in 1995 as director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. Dodd said the Oklahoma bankers’ group is the only one in the country that has its own anti-fraud division, despite the crime’s growing impact on the country.
“In the time since I’ve started (at the Oklahoma Bankers Association), fraud has ramped up dramatically,” she said.
Dodd said Oklahoma bank customers were fleeced for more than $1 million in the past year. She told of a few specific cases in which Oklahomans were defrauded, and warned of a new wave of crimes that include scammers “cracking” iPhones and other personal devices to aid in identity theft.
Dodd’s own mother was targeted by an insurance scammer, she noted. The man came to her door trying to sell a policy – which is against the law unless the customer has initiated contact with a licensed agent to schedule a home visit – and he wanted a commitment on the spot. Dodd’s mother called her to see if such a salesman could be legitimate.
“I told her to shut the door,” Dodd said.
It’s a sign that something might be amiss when a salesman pushes for such a hasty commitment, Dodd said. It is wisest to take one’s time, she advised, before making major financial decisions. Slow down the process and really mull it over.
“Just let the Okie kick in,” Dodd wisecracked. “I don’t know if you’re a native Okie or a transplanted Okie … but we don’t move so fast.”
Besides Commissioner Doak and Deputy Commissioner Brogdon, the Insurance Department was represented at the Task Force by chief fraud investigator Rick Wagnon, and by Ray Walker, who heads OID’s Senior Health Insurance Counseling Program (SHIP) and Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP). Wagnon detailed his investigative division’s tactics and advised insurers and outside law enforcement on how best to cooperate with his detectives to identify fraud and gain convictions of perpetrators. Walker outlined SMP’s efforts to educate seniors, including the recruitment of volunteers who can train their neighbors, fellow civic club members, parishioners and others in their community to spot Medicare fraud taking place and report it to authorities.
Brogdon was pleased at the level of participation in the event by insurance executives, investigators and adjusters, who received two hours of Continuing Education credit in Ethics for attending.
“The turnout for this Anti-Fraud Task Force shows the level of commitment law enforcement and the insurance industry make to stopping fraud, a crime that doesn’t just affect insurers, but hurts honest consumers through higher monthly premiums,” Brogdon said. “The Oklahoma Insurance Department is equally committed to stopping fraud, for the benefit of both our ethical insurance providers and the Oklahoma consumers we serve and protect.”
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ABOUT THE OKLAHOMA INSURANCE DEPARTMENT
The Oklahoma Insurance Department, an agency of the State of Oklahoma, is responsible for the education and protection of the insurance-buying public and for oversight of the insurance industry in the state.
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For more information contact:
Shawn Ashley
(405) 521-4525
(405) 568-6004
e-mail: shawn.ashley@oid.ok.gov