Increasingly, in order to quickly report a claim to their insurance company, the insured has the possibility of attaching certain supporting documents directly to their customer area, either online or in a specific mobile application. The aim is to make the administrative procedures as easy as possible for the member. But by wanting to digitise the procedures as much as possible, people sometimes take advantage of this to detect a gap in the system and develop very subtle scams. This is what several insurance companies in the United Kingdom are currently experiencing.

Indeed, a number of insurance frauds are making headlines in the English media and could become much more widespread in the future, including in France. The process is as follows: criminals use image editing software, some of which are equipped with artificial intelligence, to simulate an accident with your vehicle. For example, by taking a picture of your car, the criminal will modify it and add fake cracks to the bumper. The goal, as you can imagine, is to obtain financial compensation from your insurance company.

This plan, which is at the centre of the news, is not so new. According to Siham Harroussi, director of Innovation at Macif, “This type of fraud is very common, especially in the last two years, with the acceleration of generative artificial intelligence. Already last year, at European level, federal insurance agencies warned about the multiplication of fraud attempts using AI” , She tells us. In recent years, image retouching as such no longer concerns only photographs, sometimes it concerns documents (a company invoice, a certificate of assistance, an expert report) that are modified for the benefit of the insured, by changing the date of the accident, the name of the beneficiary or a reference. With AI, there also arises “the problem of image generation”, which can be very well produced and therefore cause confusion more easily, although insurers are increasingly aware of these techniques and able to fight against these frauds”, explains the specialist. .”

Nowadays, there are many tools used to commit fraud, and they are often easy to use. An average person, who has a little bit of a grasp of new technologies, could use them very well. But if the insurance company finds out about the scam, the consequences can be dramatic for the member.Generally speaking, a false statement (car accident, home accident, or even private accident, for example) may result in the loss of the guarantees of the claim, the reimbursement of the compensation paid by the insurer or the termination of the contract, or even the dismissal of the insured.” Macif confirms.