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>> welcome back. Following
disasters, insurance fraud can add millions of dollars paid
add millions of dollars paid
out by insurers resulting in
higher premiums for all of us.
Yes, the National Insurance
Crime Bureau is president and
CEO David Blough is joining us now to talk a little bit more
now to talk a little bit more
about it. David has some
insight on how to avoid fraud.
The David, good morning.
Thanks for being with us.
>> Good morning. Thank you for
having me. So I guess from the
top, can you tell us a little
bit about the kind of fraud
that takes after disasters like
that? And we you know, we hear
people trying to put their
lives back together and what
they’re facing.
>> Yeah, thanks for the we saw
in 2021. 21 billion us are 92 billion dollars in losses in
92 billion dollars in losses in
on that 9.2 billion dollars
was fraud in after a
catastrophic event which
Houston has been had numerous
times. We have these fraudsters
that come into these either
virtually or in-person selling
contractor service in
defrauding people have already
been victimized by a horrific
catastrophic event.
>> David, what steps it can and should homeowners take prior to
should homeowners take prior to
a natural disaster and how can
that prep help reduce changes
of becoming a victim? Fraud?
>> Sure. Preparation is some of the key components. So just
the key components. So just
Barry Burn for your livelihood.
Make sure you have 3 days for
the water and sustenance and
battery charge. Your cell
phones on hand, be prepared
to survive. But then also looking at what are you going
looking at what are you going
to happen the back? Make sure
your insurance coverages are
appropriate and you have the
coverage is they will cover
your losses, you know, provide
temporary housing because
you’re not going to have rebuilds right away after an
rebuilds right away after an
event having good procedures
before that right is critical
in the event. One does.
>> Now, what about David best practices for disaster victims
practices for disaster victims
when they do need to hire a
contractor. So you come home
and whatever is the roofs
damaged something What’s the
best way to go about making
sure you’re finding somebody honest, reliable may be
honest, reliable may be
licensed. However, that works.
>> That’s a great question.
And that’s exactly it. You have
to go through the process.
You’re going to be under tremendous amount of stress.
tremendous amount of stress.
You may have lost everything in
your home, maybe not habitable.
So you take a pause. Take your
time. Get 3 bids from
contractors. Go through the
process of vetting and make sure they have a business
sure they have a business
license, a physical address
and phones and emails. Make
sure when you sign a contract,
make sure you don’t pay all the money up an incremental to make
money up an incremental to make
sure they’re going to show up
and get the contract with the
Better Business Bureau and the
Attorney General’s office or
the Division of Insurance and
within state of Texas, they’ll
have less and work with your
insurance agent. They’ll also be able to have a medalist up
be able to have a medalist up
Rogers, whatever you do, do
not hire someone to call you on
the fallen are comes to your
front porch.
>> Excellent advice. Would you
say those are the same
resources available to other
disaster victims to help them
avoid potential fraudulent
actors here.
>> Absolutely. We’ve been organization around for over
organization around for over
100 years. You can contact us
at our Web site at Www it and I
C V Dot org. And also you can
report fraud and 1, 800 telling
Icb 1, 8, 100 tell in I C B. >> You it’s nice to have a
>> You it’s nice to have a
place to go to report it.
But I think at that point, so
many homeowners feel like
they’ve already lost, you know,
whatever their deposit was that they put down, you know, and
they put down, you know, and
that’s done. So really that
preparation is the key. And
then the, you know, the
stronger we can be through a
disaster may be the better decisions will make on the
decisions will make on the
other side of one.
>> That’s exactly. And it is
preparation of front and your
sauce and injured 3 days, food
and water. So you can survive
but also making sure you have
insurance coverage in place after the bank is you won’t be
after the bank is you won’t be
covered. The don’t have that.
So preparation upfront is keen
and take a pause when it does
what it does happen, better
contractors out. You don’t become a victim of fraud to
become a victim of fraud to
victimize twice the event
happen and then your gear.
There may come a crime of
slightly. It’s heartbreaking to
hear the stories we all the
time, though. Don’t we have a
hurricane season?
>> David Clowney, thanks so much for the insight. We
much for the insight. We