South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson announced the release of South Carolina’s 2013 Insurance Fraud Annual Report.
Just in Berkeley County alone, Wilson’s office received 26 fraud complaints in the amount of $33,764.42. Most of those complaints, 22 total, pertained to automobiles.
“My office continues to fight insurance fraud by prosecuting these cases in court and raising awareness of the problem in communities across our state,” stated Wilson.
According to Wilson, last year prosecutors secured 37 fraud convictions across the state, and defendants were ordered to pay more than $700,000 in restitution to the victims.
“During 2013, my office received 1,231 complaints regarding insurance fraud. The number of complaints remains at an all-time high, and we must continue to be vigilant in our prosecution of these cases,” stated Wilson.
The cases were divided as follows:
- Automobile (74%)-907
- Personal/Commercial Property (17%)-215
- Workers’ Compensation (4%)-53
- Health/Medical (1%)-16
- Life Insurance (1%)-14
- Premium Fraud (1%)-10
“We continue to work with the Department of Employment and Workforce in responding to unemployment fraud complaints representing more than 25% (10) of the convictions in South Carolina this year,” stated Wilson.
The Insurance Fraud Division of the Office of the Attorney General was created in 1994, with the mission of aggressively confronting insurance fraud in South Carolina. It receives referrals from the Department of Insurance, the South Carolina Worker’s Compensation Commission, the Department of Employment and Workforce, insurance companies, private citizens, law enforcement agencies, as well as attorneys and private law firms throughout South Carolina.
