One of the latest fraud trends involves photo manipulation of vehicles to present them as having damage for fraudulent insurance claims. This is alarming for insurers as it pushes motor insurance costs up to new highs. From 2021 to 2023, apps that distort real-life photographs have increased by 300%, proving that it is slowly becoming the most popular scam in the industry.

Automotive scams in general have proven to be highly lucrative for fraudsters and scammers. In fact, automotive scams have increased by 74% in 2023 compared to the previous year. This goes to show just how popular such scams are becoming and it doesn’t look like they’re going away anytime soon.

Photo editing software is more powerful than ever before with more apps than ever using artificial intelligence to create convincing edits at the press of a button. This technology can be used for good in some instances, but there has been an increase in wrongdoers getting their hands on it.

In this article, we will explore how to spot fake damage photo edits so that you or your insurance business can avoid scams.

Why fake photo scams are so popular

There are so many readily available editing software out there for scammers to take advantage of and make some quick cash. It doesn’t just stop at fake damage photographs, as scammers can also edit and photoshop licence plates onto total loss vehicles. Insurance companies are trying to fight back against this, but this has only made these types of scams more popular.

The average driver now pays £635 in car insurance, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI). This has increased over the last few years, making more scammers more inclined to attempt to scam their way to getting back some money from insurance companies.

How to spot fake photo scams

Video evidence

While photographic evidence can be easily edited and doctored by the claimant, video evidence is harder to manipulate. While professional and seasoned scammers could have the skill level to edit video evidence of fake vehicle damage, the majority of scammers are amateurs and won’t be able to achieve great results.

Live video evidence is the best way to identify if a photograph is legitimate or not, as live videos cannot be manipulated. It can be difficult to tell who caused a car accident, so receiving video evidence could be the only way to validate a claimant’s story.

Voice analytic tools

Voice analytics in insurance is gaining popularity due to new technology transforming the way that insurance companies interact with their clients. The voice analytic tool by Clearspeed leverages advanced speech recognition and natural language to analyse interactions between the customer and insurer. This is primarily done for phone communication.

Valuable insights can be gained by using this technology, including detecting potential fraud or compliance violations through voice pattern analysis.

Check social media

Although it may not seem to be a viable option for catching fake photo scams, it has been used before by mainstream insurance companies. The LV= fraud team received photographs of a damaged vehicle with the front bumper being cracked from a supposed accident. This included a fake invoice of around £1000. This was investigated and it was found that the initial photo used to make the edit was already on the claimant’s social media page without any damage present.

This shows that insurers must consider every possible lane to catch scammers who attempt to alter images of their vehicle for a payout. Although social media won’t work to catch out fraudsters every time, you never know when there could be a slip-up on their part that ruins their claim.

Check for discrepancies

Photo editing isn’t the easiest skill to learn and the majority of photo edit attempts will have small discrepancies that can be used to identify fake images. Photos edited in apps are usually blurred or appear to have jagged edges especially once zoomed in. Other aspects, such as shadows and lighting can also be off and can signify some wrongdoing.

Credit insurance brokers should be highly knowledgeable in this field and be able to spot any discrepancies in claims to stop scammers from reaping in the benefits. Whether that be through the photographic evidence or the story told by the claimant, these scams should be shut down.

Future of fake damage scams

To tackle the problem behind fake damage scams, there needs to be a healthy relationship between the people behind these AI photo edit technologies and the insurance industry. For example, Sensity.AI has anti-fraud measures in place in an attempt to combat fraud, protect their brand and ensure that the right support is given to policyholders.

While it’s going to a long road of recovery due to the sheer amount of editing technologies out there, there is more trust and transparency thanks to technologies like Sensity.AI. Eventually, there should be more measures and anti-scam features available to counteract this scamming trend.