How Are We Doing?
Some Current Statistics

Arrests and Convictions: 2000 – 2002

The number of arrests resulting from Frauds Bureau investigations reached a record-high of 707 during 2002, outpacing the two prior years by 28% and 40%, respectively.

Multi-agency cooperation was evident in the success of many investigations during 2002.

Perhaps most noteworthy was an investigation conducted jointly by the Frauds Bureau, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and the National Insurance Crime Bureau. This cooperative effort led not only to arrests but to the seizure of cash, bank accounts and more than $1 million in commercial real estate. For the first time, the Insurance Department successfully used New York’s forfeiture statutes to impose economic as well as criminal sanctions in an insurance fraud case.

In another joint investigation, the Frauds Bureau teamed up with the State Insurance Fund and the Workers’ Compensation Board in an investigation that resulted in the arrest of a Utica homemaker accused of defrauding the workers’ compensation system of more than $130,000. According to the charges, the suspect continued to collect and cash workers’ compensation checks following the death of her mother, the intended beneficiary. During the period from 2/9/90 to 3/4/02, she forged her mother’s signature to 315 checks totaling $130,694.

Also important are the day-to-day investigations that brought about the arrest of many other individuals accused of staging accidents, submitting fraudulent medical claims, over-billing by health care providers and various other charges.

The number of criminal convictions obtained by prosecutors in Frauds Bureau cases totaled 389 during 2002, all all-time high for the Bureau. Under the sponsorship of the Department of Criminal Justice Services, many District Attorneys across the State have received grant money to form auto insurance fraud units. As part of the program, the Frauds Bureau has been requested to place a number of our investigators in prosecutors’ offices to work side-by-side with their investigative staff. At year-end 2002, we had investigators in Suffolk, Nassau, Queens, Rockland and Albany Counties. This program is likely to be expanded as more prosecutors apply for and receive grant money.

The number of reports of suspected insurance fraud decreased between 2001 and 2002, down from 26,028 to 24,578 over the year. The Bureau receives about 55% of all fraud reports electronically. Progress continues on the development of a Web-based reporting system to complement the AT&T Global Network system currently in use.