Morocco’s Insurance Industry Grapples with Rising Fraud, Costing Millions

Losses related to fraud in insurance reach more than 260 million dirhams of the business volume of the companies. How do the fraudsters operate? These frauds are sometimes the work of organized networks and complicity at all levels of the circuit (medical personnel, experts, certificates of convenience, forgers...) L’Économiste reveals three stratagems: fraud at the time of risk subscription, fraud at the time of the occurrence of the claim and fraud that consists in taking advantage of the occurrence of a claim to be compensated for previous damages.

Fraud at the time of risk subscription. These are recurring practices that consist in reducing the amount of the premium. "Some policyholders engage in identity theft, others resort to false declarations or an erroneous situation of the risk. Others opt for a false declaration of past claims, or the underestimation of the dangerousness of the risk," explains the newspaper. As for the fraud carried out at the time of the occurrence of the claim - the most common practice in Morocco - it "consists in asking or buying a higher invoice from a garage, a dentist/prosthetist or an optician... In this same category, some plan a claim with the whole staging. This type of offense often involves a third party who provides the insured with an alibi in case of a possible investigation. In this same modus operandi, some policyholders go so far as to deliberately cause a claim (accident, fire, theft...)," it is further explained.

As for the practice of taking advantage of the occurrence of a claim to be compensated for previous damages, it is noted that specific sectors are particularly popular with fraudsters. One of these sectors is fire: the fraud consists in deliberately precipitating the birth of a claim in order to receive compensation. Another important case of fraud: "the fraudulent files of road accidents that embezzle 4 to 5% of the sector’s turnover each year." Fraudsters also resort to money laundering.