Doctored photos and documents from customers making insurance claims are one of the growing fraud threats for the insurance sector.

Yet research suggests that only 20 per cent of insurers are taking action against deepfakes, or synthetic media, in response to the manipulation or modification of photos, videos and other data. In its 2022 report Deepfakes: A Threat to Insurance?, American tech company Attestiv notes that altered photos that falsely inflate claims are the main concern for insurers.

Attestiv CEO Nicos Vekiarides says deepfakes use artificial intelligence (AI) to create synthetically generated photos and videos that do not have the forensic traces found in typical edited media. ‘They look like photos that have come right out of your phone,’ he says, ‘so it’s very difficult to spot the anomalies.’

The insurtech uses AI and blockchain technology to provide a tamper-proof media validation and automation platform.

With fraudsters getting more sophisticated, Vekiarides says there is no room for complacency, as the insurance sector increasingly turns to automation and relies on customer-supplied photos or videos during the claims process. 

Fighting back

In New Zealand, ISACORP managing director John Borland heads an investigative company that is using metadata extraction software to help claims specialists identify altered photos and documents. 

In one case, he used GPS tracking technology to expose the lies of a driver who crashed his car after doing burnouts. The fraudster submitted a legitimate video, but it was of another accident that occurred hundreds of kilometres away. ‘I was able to pinpoint the location where the video was taken and shoot down the claim,’ says Borland.

Currently, most cases in New Zealand involve genuine images — not AI-generated deepfakes — that are being used for unrelated claims. Borland says simple checks of ‘the DNA of an image’ can reveal the original date that images are taken and if and when they have been doctored. 

‘We catch out a lot of people who modify images and documents, especially when it comes to proof of purchase, receipts and so forth.’

While such manual investigations are valuable, Borland admits the future for insurers rests with AI-driven solutions that can process mass claims in real time. ‘If it was my company, I’d be pushing for paid subscriptions where you can just dump all the images on a technology platform and get them quickly assessed,’ he says.

It’s a message that resonates with Michael Lewis, CEO of Claim Technology in the United Kingdom. His business provides no-code tools to help insurers automate claims in the cloud, while also overseeing an ecosystem of more than 60 insurtechs that offer complementary digital transformation and risk-management solutions. 

‘We act as the glue helping companies access the solutions more easily,’ he says.

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