This piece is by Osman Khurshid, Chief Client Officer, Synectics Solutions, and it’s part of the September theme; Speed Matters, which looks at how data can be utilised to improve processes across the insurance chain.
Fraud in insurance isn’t just growing – it’s getting faster.
Organised networks exploit onboarding gaps, deploy ID fraud at scale, and move stolen or fabricated documents between insurers in coordinated attacks. At the same time, customer expectations for real-time quotes and rapid claims handling have never been higher. Insurers are under pressure to deliver both – instant service and rigorous fraud controls. All while operating in a regulatory environment that demands transparency and fairness. For fraud detection teams, the challenge isn’t whether to go faster, but how to do it without losing control.
Speed isn’t enough. Accuracy is everything.
“The UK insurance market is amongst the world’s most competitive and with that, speed of service continues to be non-negotiable. Customers want real-time quotes, fast claims, and are happy to switch if service isn’t up to scratch. Insurers know this and are modernising for speed accordingly, with automation and AI-driven process optimisation high on the agenda.
But herein lies the problem. Fake documents, synthetic IDs, and shallowfakes are designed precisely with this in mind…to slip through at pace. The solution? Intelligence.
“By leveraging document forensics and shared cross-sector intelligence as part of the modernisation mix, insurers can spot risk instantly and accurately without delaying the journey of genuine customers. With a level of precision that keeps false positives low and service levels high.”
AI-based fraud detection is fast. But there’s an important caveat.
“Speed only works when people trust the process – internally and externally. AI can triage claims in real time, clearing low-risk cases and escalating suspicious ones faster, but only if it’s fuelled by high-quality, shared data and transparent in its reasoning. That combination reduces the operational drain of false positives, ensures investigators only manually work cases that truly warrant human attention, and delivers decisions that stand up to regulatory scrutiny. This is AI as an accelerator of judgement, not a replacement for it.”
The fastest claim to process is the one that never becomes a fraud case.
“Embedding intelligent fraud checks at the earliest stages – quoting, onboarding, and first contact – is vital. Not least because it closes the door to what is often more substantial downstream risk. To inflated claims seemingly legitimised by highly convincing identity details and incident documentation artificially created or manipulated.
“In truth insurers are in a technology arms race – especially when it comes to AI – where opponents can, and do, play by very different rules.
“Leveraging tools and rules based on industry-wide intelligence that flags fraud network associations and real time behavioural trends, doesn’t just level the playing field – it puts insurers back in control of how fraud is fought.
Enabling them to make instant, confident decisions without sacrificing fairness or compliance. It’s prevention-first design that protects customers, teams, and service levels.”
Balancing speed with control isn’t a compromise. It’s a capability.
“The insurers winning on service, trust, and loss ratios are those who design fraud defences to work as quickly as their customers expect, but as carefully as regulators demand.”
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