Ingosstrakh insurance company vice president Ilya Solomatin
Photo: Nikolay Cyiganov
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Insurers Defrauded of Billions
Russian insurance companies lost $3 billion in 2007 because of the illegal actions of market participants, reports RBK Daily, citing a statement by All-Russia Insurance Union spokesman Sergey Lyalin. Other estimates of the industry's losses range from $1.5 billion to $6 billion, including lost profits. The losses were caused by false claims and illegal activities by agents and represent 18.5-37 percent of all payments.
Ingosstrakh spokesman Ilya Solomatin stated that the highest percentage of fraud occurs in auto insurance. Zurich Retail deputy general director Sergey Efremov said that the most problematic forms of insurance, in descending order, are mandatory auto insurance, other auto insurance, insurance when traveling abroad, property insurance and voluntary medical insurance.
A poll conducted by the All-Russia Insurance Union n 2006 indicated that 44 percent of Russians between the ages of 18 and 24 do not consider it fraud to increase the size of a claim filed with an insurance company. A third of respondents suspected Russian insurance companies of defrauding their customers.
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