How Are We Doing?
Some Current Statistics

Arrests and Convictions: First Half, 2000 – 2001

• Arrests in Frauds Bureau investigations totaled 304 for the first half of 2001, versus 312 for the corresponding period a year ago.

• Contributing to the half-year total was a May sweep, the first statewide sweep ever conducted by the Frauds Bureau. In the downstate area, Frauds Bureau investigators assisted with the execution of search warrants at 11 auto body shops that netted more than 20 arrests for auto-related fraud in Kings, Queens, Nassau and Richmond Counties. At the same time, Frauds Bureau investigators conducted sweeps in Syracuse and other upstate areas that resulted in the arrest of 21 individuals for workers’ compensation, no-fault and various other types of insurance fraud. In addition, over the April 30–May 3 period, 17 individuals were arrested and charged with a variety of workers’ compensation fraud. A sweep in Rensselaer County earlier in the year that netted 13 arrests was also a contributing factor.

• The number of criminal convictions obtained by prosecutors in Frauds Bureau cases totaled 90 for the January–June 2001 period compared with 190 for the first half of 2000.

• The Frauds Bureau received more than 15,000 reports of suspected fraud in the first six months of 2001, an increase of 22% over the number received during the same period last year. About 300 insurers currently participate in the Bureau’s electronic fraud reporting system which makes reporting more thorough, accurate and effective.