Insurance fraud is a growing global phenomenon. In the United States alone, it is estimated that insurance fraud is an $80 billion dollar industry, second only to narcotics trafficking. Not surprisingly the two are often connected. According to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud (the Coalition), there has been an increase in organized transnational crime rings using insurance fraud as a vehicle to fund illegal activities. Compounding matters, it appears that terrorists are also capitalizing on these crimes to make a quick profit.

According to the Coalition, growing symbiotic connections among cartels trafficking drugs, terrorists, cyber thieves, mob syndicates and organized insurance fraud are utilizing one another's skill sets to profit in the belly of the underworld. These syndicates often base their operations in third-world nations with broken laws and corrupt officials where they can have unfettered access to a lawless environment. Insurance fraud, even in developed countries, provides a relatively easy, low risk and highly profitable means by which international drug cartels and terrorist organizations can make money to fund other enterprises.

An article in Fraud Magazine stated, "There is a significant link between insurance fraud and terrorist activities. The threat of terrorism has become the principal security concern in the United States since 9/11. Some might perceive that fraud isn't linked to terrorism because white-collar crime issues are more the province of organized crime, but that perception is misguided. Terrorists derive funding from a variety of criminal activities ranging in scale and sophistication — from low-level crime to organized narcotics smuggling and fraud."