ATTORNEY GENERAL TARGETS SCAMS

The South Carolina Attorney General’s Office is beefing up its Fraud Division staff to reduce a backlog of cases and answer critics who say the department isn’t tough enough on insurance scams.

The office has $400,000 in this year’s budget to fight fraud and will increase the number of prosecutors to five from one. The attorney general’s office had cut the number of prosecutors as it budget was cut to $6 million from $10 million in recent years.

From July 1 to Sept. 30, the office has 25 criminal fraud convictions, up from just seven during the same period last year. Civil actions also were up to 23 from nine last year.

The new team will significantly reduce the office’s open fraud cases, which currently is just less than 700, attorney general’s office spokesman Trey Walker said.

“Next quarter, the numbers should be even more dramatic,” he added.

Insurance fraud has been a growing concern in South Carolina, law enforcement and industry officials say. The cases encompass everything from staged auto accidents to bogus insurance companies that collect premiums but fail to pay claims.

In 2004, South Carolina had 595 complaints of insurance fraud, totaling more than $5 million.

Much of those costs are passed along to policy holders, but businesses often bear the brunt of fraud, said Frank Knapp, president of the Small Business Chamber of Commerce.

“There are businesses that cheat,” he said. “Not only does it hurt businesses in terms of increasing rates, but it hurts them in terms of competition.”

SBCC lobbied to increase the budget to fight fraud and is encouraging businesses to report fraud cases.

Sen. David Thomas, R-Greenville, chairs the Banking and Insurance Committee and pushed earlier this year for the extra money to be put into the unit’s budget.

Topics Fraud South Carolina