Viper Group, Inc. is a results driven investigative team. We take great pride in our ability to detect and document fraudulent claims through a host of investigative tools and resources. Here are just a few recent examples of investigations with successful outcomes.
An individual reported to his insurance carrier that he had inadvertently crashed his BMW, causing total damage. Viper Group was given the file and began compiling information about the case, including the most recent Carfax. Using interview techniques that require detailed answers about the loss, the condition of the car, and conducting a financial stress test, the investigator learned that the owner could not afford his current lifestyle. In addition, the owner indicated that after the collision, he had his BMW towed to his residence at his own expense. However, the owner could not recall the name of the towing company and he could not produce a receipt or show a credit card charge for the towing. Because of this, the investigator focused on the condition of the car prior to the loss. The Carfax report indicated that just a few days before the collision, the vehicle had been inspected by a local repair facility. The owner had not mentioned this when he was asked about prior repairs and maintenance on the car. While the interview was still on-going, the investigator called the repair shop, who advised that the Insured’s BMW needed a new engine. The Insured eventually confessed that he had intentionally crashed his BMW because he could not afford to repair it.
Viper Group received a request for investigative services from a national car rental company, wherein the renter claimed to have collided into a Jaguar; injuring the vehicle’s two occupants. During an extensive interview with the renter, several details about the loss did not align with the evidence. Ultimately, the woman confessed that she had been hired by a friend to rent a vehicle and claim that she “accidently” hit the Jaguar. She also admitted to the investigator that soon after the collision, she was invited to meet with the Claimants’ attorney at his law firm. There, she was given written instructions on what to say, along with a photograph of the purported Jaguar driver; just in case she was ever questioned about the incident.
During the Covid19 Pandemic, Viper Group received a claim from a commercial truck rental company. The renter of the truck had reportedly backed into a parked van, resulting in the van being totaled. The rental truck driver refused to return calls to the insurance company or provide any additional information about the loss. A Viper Group collision reconstructionist determined that the van had actually been hit three times by the rental truck. An investigator from Viper Group obtained security video from the truck rental facility and later video taped his interviews with the owner of the van and the rental truck driver. During the interviews, the driver of the rental truck responses seemed either rehearsed or extremely vague, while the van owner seemed to recall a great deal more about the collision, even though he reportedly did not witness it. However, the security video managed to solve the entire case. When the investigator asked the van owner to remove his COVID19 facial mask for identification purposes, it was apparent that the van owner used his friend’s driver’s license to rent the truck and then hit his own vehicle… three times. The investigation was forwarded to the California Department of Insurance for further investigation and prosecution.
A claim was submitted by two men; one stating that he was backing toward an open garage and inadvertently bumped into a folding table. On top of the table was an open 1-gallon bucket of white paint, which toppled over. The splashing paint landed on the second gentleman’s high-end, designer suits, which were stacked side by side on boxes near the table. The three suits were permanently stained by the paint and the Claimant provided receipts for the suits, which totalled nearly $10,000. A past claims check was conducted and, as it turned out, the Claimant had unsuccessfully made a remarkably similar claim two years earlier with a different insurance company. An investigator from Viper Group met with the Claimant, who stated that this was his very first claim. During the taped interview, the investigator confronted him with photographs of paint stained designer suits and altered receipts from his previous claim and compared them to his current claim. It didn’t take long for the Claimant to withdrew his claim and confess that the entire scheme was a fraud.
A claim was filed stating that a neighboring tennant collided into a person’s self-storage unit, damaging her very expensive mattress and shattering her flat screen television. In doing so, the clamant provided receipts and photographs of the items and requested several thousand dollars in compensation from the insurance carrier. The claimant showed a long history of suspicious claim activity, which seemed to be her primary source of income. The investigation quickly revealed that the receipts were altered and/or counterfeit and the photographs had been simply downloaded from a national travel website. In fact, the claimant had never owned or possessed the items she claimed were irreparably destroyed.
