Each year American consumers and businesses carry a $308.6 billion burden due to insurance fraud, according to The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud. Although every policyholder pays for fraudulent activity through higher premiums, 16% of the U.S. population — around 53 million Americans — do not think insurance fraud is a crime, The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud reported. People aged 55 and up are most likely to see insurance fraud as a serious crime, the Coalition found. Research has also shown that the younger the policyholder, the more likely they are to not consider insurance fraud a crime. For example, 87% of policyholders between the ages of 45 and 54 view insurance fraud as a crime, while 65% of policyholders aged 18-24 said the same. Some of those policyholders with threadbare moral fiber and lax attitudes about fraud are highlighted in the above slideshow, which features recent cases of insurance fraud reviewed by FC&S editors. According to the Coalition, consumers who commit insurance fraud as a crime often believe that carriers have treated them unfairly and see the act as a way to even the score. Others believe insurance companies have deep pockets and can simply absorb losses caused by fraud. Related: |

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