N.C. insurance commissioner expands anti-fraud efforts

North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey is expanding the department’s criminal investigations division as part of his vision to eliminate insurance fraud in North Carolina, his office announced Friday.

The announcement comes after a state Supreme Court justice swore in 15 new special agents as officers to the NCDOI Fraud Control Group, nearly doubling the size of the existing team, according to a press release.

The expansion came in response to the “vast number of insurance fraud complaints,” Mr. Causey said in a statement. “We were shorthanded on the number of investigators to examine them,” he added. 

Each month, North Carolina receives as many as 500 criminal insurance fraud complaints, according to the commissioner’s office.

In 2017, 334 people were arrested for insurance-related violations — almost 60% more arrests than in 2016 — the recovery of about $14.1 million, according to the release.

The North Carolina General Assembly in 2017 appropriated $2.4 million to hire additional agents in NCDOI’s criminal investigations division including a crime analyst, forensic accountant, attorneys and special agents.