With it being International Fraud Awareness Week from November 15-21, Saskatchewan Government Insurance is warning the public of the dangers of attempting insurance fraud.

Investigators looked into 1,234 insurance claims in 2019 which saved SGI and their customers an estimated $10 million. Only 0.05 per cent of claims are investigated.

“It’s important for people to know that SGI does take steps to investigate and prevent insurance fraud,” explained Tyler McMurchy, manager of media relations for SGI. “Those stories ultimately cost all insurance customers money.”

McMurchy pointed to one example where $228,000 was saved after someone falsely claimed a number of large appliances had been stolen and their home had been damaged in a break-in.

“The SGI adjuster had taken photos as part of the claim to show that the refrigerator was present, and one of the investigators also found photos of the residence taken a year and a half before the claim that showed the same fridge and the same damage to the floor,” recalled McMurchy. “It told investigators that something didn’t add up.”

He added that it costs everybody money when someone tries to perform insurance fraud.

SGI released their top five insurance fraud cases from last year to give light to some suspicious insurance claims that have been made in the past in Saskatchewan.