Insurance Fraud Up in Ohio

A newspaper reports that Ohio has already received a record number of insurance fraud allegations this year.

The Dayton Daily News reports that officials are attributing it partly to better reporting of suspected incidents of criminal activity and hard economic times.

The Ohio Department of Insurance reports that consumers, insurers, insurance agents, police and others have already lodged 4,022 allegations of fraud with the state through last Friday. Reports of fraud are already up 10 percent compared to all of 2011, and 25 percent from 2010.

Insurance department spokesman Chris Brock tells the newspaper that the increase partly reflects the agency’s strengthened efforts to get insurers and the public to report suspected incidents of fraud. Fraudulent activity also tends to increase when people face hard economic times.