Author Archives: Emily Holbrook

About Emily Holbrook

Emily Holbrook is a former editor of the Risk Management Monitor and Risk Management magazine. You can read more of her writing at EmilyHolbrook.com.
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A Spike in Insurance Fraud Across the U.S.

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As you may have guessed, the country’s economic conditions have caused a nationwide spike in insurance fraud.

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A recently released report by the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud points to the economy and continuous pressures on state budgets as the reason for a spike in fraud cases.

Overall, the economy in 2009 appears to have had a significant impact on the incidence of fraud.

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On average, fraud bureaus reported the number of referrals received and cases opened increased in all 15 categories of fraud

included in the survey.

Overall, the economy in 2009 appears to have had a significant impact on the incidence of fraud. On average, fraud bureaus reported the number of referrals received and cases opened increased in all 15 categories of fraud included in the survey.

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Those 15 categories of fraud are:

  1. Agent fraud
  2. Auto – staged
  3. Auto – padding/false claim
  4. Auto – give up
  5. Commercial – arson
  6. Disability
  7. Drug diversion
  8. Homeowners – arson
  9. Homeowners – padding/fake
  10. Liability – false claim
  11. Life insurance
  12. Medical – false claims
  13. Work comp – worker
  14. Work comp – employer
  15. Bogus health insurance/discount health plans

The biggest number of fraud cases occurred in the area of bogus health insurance. The report pointed to the reported rise in unauthorized entities selling fake coverage combined with the emergence of medical discount plans as the reason for the dramatic spike in this area.

Drug diversion came in second with survey respondents pointing to the fact that fraud involving the diversion of prescription drugs, mainly painkillers, appears to continuously increase — a trend over the last few years.

World Cup Could Cause Spike in AIDS?

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This year’s World Cup will be held in South Africa, with up to half a million visitors expected to flock to the country. That means big money for much of South Africa’s businesses, and it also means big business for the country’s sex workers.

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This poses many problems, the most worrisome, however, is that up to half of the area’s prostitutes are carrying HIV.

Eric Harper, director of the Cape Town-based Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT), told CNN that the World Cup would inevitably lead to a demand for sex workers.”And where there’s demand there will be a supply,” Harper told CNN. “It could be a potential recipe for disaster both for the clients and the sex workers,” he added. Harper told CNN that while there are no accurate figures for the number of sex workers in South Africa, his organization believes there are 3,000 in Cape Town alone.

The above article references a 2005 University of Michigan study that found that 46% of female sex workers in Johannesburg had HIV. Though that amounts to one scary statistic, authorities are also worried about the possible spread of other STDs, the chance of unwanted pregnancies and the threat of rape.

Currently, prostitution is illegal in South Africa. Some are calling for the legalization of the crime to help curb the spread of the disease.

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It seems these pro-prostitution advocates are taking their example from the well-known Red Light District of Amsterdam. There, prostitution is indeed legal and those employed in the lucrative industry are rigorously tested and protection is used to ensure the safety of both parties. And as with all legal industries, it is taxed.

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Should South Africa decriminalize prostitution to help tackle the spread of HIV? One might think so. It has been well documented that HIV has had a serious impact on the country’s economy. South Africa has the chance to turn one extremely risky, illegal occupation to a revenue-generating, safe industry. What do you think?

Taking Risk to a New Level: Internet on Dashboards

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As if talking and texting on cell phones wasn’t enough of a distraction to drivers these days, car companies are now installing computers right in the front seat, according to a recent piece in The New York Times. Apparently Intel and Google are working with numerous automakers in hopes of fattening their bottom lines (even more!).

The first wave of these “infotainment systems,” as the tech and car industries call them, will hit the market this year. While built-in navigation features were once costly options, the new systems are likely to be standard equipment in a wide range of cars before long.

As you could imagine, safety advocates are up in arms about this innovative, but potentially deadly, car equipment. Recent research has shown that texting while driving is extremely dangerous. We ran a column in our October issue highlighting this topic. In it, we referenced a study by the Virginia Tech Trasportation Institute, which found that texting takes a driver’s eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds, long enough to blindly travel the length of a football field at 55 mph.

If that’s true for texting, imagine what happens when you add in surfing the web while driving. With a cell phone in one hand and the other hand on the dashboard computer screen, it seems maneuvering a 2-ton piece of metal may be the actual distraction to some drivers. The New York Times again states:

One system on the way this fall from Audi lets drivers pull up information as they drive. Heading to Madison Square Garden for a basketball game? Pop down the touch pad, finger-scribble the word “Knicks” and get a Wikipedia entry on the arena, photos and reviews of nearby restaurants, and animations of the ways to get there.

Wow. This makes me thankful that I don’t own a car and therefore don’t drive, opting instead to take NYC mass transit or walk. But this is a threat not only to other drivers, but to pedestrians as well. That’s it, I’m never leaving my apartment.

In all seriousness though, the idea of computers on car dashboards will surely attract massive backlash from the car insurance industry, just as texting while driving has. In fact, the following states have completely outlawed texting while driving:

  1. Alaska
  2. Arkansas
  3. California
  4. Colorado
  5. Connecticut
  6. D.C.
  7. Guam
  8. Illinois
  9. Louisiana
  10. Maryland
  11. Minnesota
  12. New Hampshire
  13. New Jersey
  14. New York
  15. North Carolina
  16. Oregon
  17. Rhode Island
  18. Tennessee
  19. Utah
  20. Virginia
  21. Washington

I keep an eye on this lengthy list and to me, it seems there’s a new state added every other week. I wouldn’t be surprised to see, at some point soon, some type of ban against the use of computers while driving, at least if safety advocates and car insurance companies have their say. What do you think? Computers in cars — good idea or death wish?

Billion-dollar Suit Against Chinese Gov, PC Makers

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In what could be seen as a test case for U.S. companies, a small California-based software firm has filed a $2.2 billion copyright infringment suit against the People’s Republic of China, two Chinese software makers and seven major computer manufacturers.

The plaintiff in this groundbreaking case is Solid Oak Software, a family-owned firm in Santa Barbara. They make, among other things, software called CYBERsitter, which prevents children from viewing pornographic or violent content on the internet. Solid Oak claims that Chinese software makers and computer manufacturers stole 3,000 lines of code from their CYBERsitter program to create Green Dam Youth Escort software, which works similar to CYBERsitter in that it prevents users from viewing certain web pages. After Green Dam was created, the Chinese government mandated that all manufacturers bundle the software into any computer sold in China after July 1, 2009. This was the government’s way of restricting the public, young and old, from viewing various political and religious web sites.

The suit names the following defendants:

  • Sony
  • Toshiba
  • Lenovo Group
  • Acer
  • ASUSTeK Computer
  • BenQ Corp.
  • Haier Group
  • Zhengzhou Jinhui Computer System Engineering
  • Beijing Dazheng Human Language Technology Academy
  • The People’s Republic of China

Though the mandate involving Green Dam software’s installation on all new computers was lifted after the Obama administration warned China that the requirement could violate free-trade agreements, 56.5 million copies had been distributed by June 2009 alone. And with a $39.95 price on each CYBERsitter product, it seems that whether they win or lose the case, Solid Oak is losing out on profits. But we should also remember that win or lose, this case has the potential to pave the way for future copyright infringement cases of this nature.