Posted On: August 27, 2007, 3:30 pm CDT

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I don't condone the methods of Progressive. Here some facts about fraud:

Industry Estimates of Fraud To understand the pervasiveness and impact of insurance fraud, consider the following:
• If insurance fraud were a legitimate business, it would be a TOP Fortune 500 Company
• Insurance fraud is the second largest white-collar crime in the United States, second only to income tax evasion
• Property/casualty insurance fraud cost insurers an estimated $30 billion in both 2004 and 2005, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
• The Property & Casualty industry estimates that 10 to 25 percent of all claims are fraudulent.

Source: Insurance Information Institute

Motivations of Fraud Perpetrators People commit fraud for many reasons. According to a 2003 Accenture Ltd. survey, 49% of people commit fraud because they can get away with it and 30% do it because they need the money.

Other motivations include:
• Financial stress
• Marital problems
• Bankruptcy
• Opportunity

Many people don't think of insurance fraud as "stealing." Of the people surveyed in a 2000 Insurance Research Council Poll, 25% believed that it is acceptable to overstate a claim to cover past premiums and 40% believed that it is acceptable to pad a claim to cover a deductible.