Artificial intelligence (AI) is used to detect cancer cells, write essays… and commit insurance fraud.
Scammers have been caught using AI technology to manipulate photos for fraudulent auto insurance claims, often adding fake damages from an accident that never happened.
An investigation by Allianz in the United Kingdom found that such cases increased by up to 300 percent across the insurance industry over the past year.
Generative AI features in photo editing apps have been around for some time; However, its use to edit and submit manipulated images and videos as evidence in fraudulent insurance claims has become much more common in recent years.
These images, called “shallowfakes”, are sometimes (but not always) quite convincing and are an example of how scammers adapt their methods in an attempt to profit from new technologies.
In one such case, a person who had posted a photo of his work truck on social media filed a claim on his behalf for an accident that never occurred.
Liverpool Victoria (LV=), an insurer owned by Allianz, received images of the van showing a cracked bumper, supposedly the result of an accident, as well as a fake repair bill of more than £1,000 (around A$1,900). .
The company's fraud team had concerns and, upon investigating the case, discovered that the image was identical to the one found on social media, although with the addition of fake damage.
Allianz says that in response to the rise in fraudulent claims, it has partnered with voice analytics tool Clearspeed to detect more fraud and speed up the processing of genuine claims.
The partnership comes after Allianz's UK personal lines business reported a 29 percent increase in fraud prevention in 2023 compared to the previous year.