"Ms. Hilton was recently arrested for possession of cocaine found in her purse, and she had the perfect Paris defense: 'That's not my purse, that's my friend's purse,'" said Attorney James Lewis, who taught Wednesday's workshop alongside co-presenter Michael Beagle, CEO of DiscoveryPro. "However, three weeks ago, she sent out a tweet on Twitter telling the whole world that she had just purchased this exact purse, and included a picture for the whole world to see."
It's this kind of valuable public information that Lewis and Beagle say is readily available to insurance fraud investigators for no cost -- although it comes with some limitations and caveats. To keep investigators on the straight and narrow, the two designed a three-step process for helping insurance fraud investigators conduct cyber investigations of web sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and eBay.
"The first step is cyber-screening, where the investigator tries to get baseline information early in the claim investigation regarding the insured's use of the internet," said Lewis, in a pre-conference interview. "Right now, all investigators ask for are phone numbers and e-mail addresses. We will provide attendees with a set of 15 questions to ask claimants, which will help guide them through a more thorough information-gathering process."
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