NICB Projects 49% Rise in Insurance Fraud Linked to Identity Theft in 2025

OAK BROOK, IL, September 2, 2025 – Use of identity theft in insurance crime is expected to rise 49% by the end of 2025, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), the nation’s leading non-profit association dedicated to preventing insurance fraud and crime.

An analysis of thousands of questionable insurance claims that were submitted by policyholders to their insurance companies from 2022 through June 30, 2025, revealed a significant year-over-year increase in claims which included an element of either traditional identity theft or the use of a synthetic identity. Nearly a quarter of the insurance claims processed that had identity theft as a reason for referral to NICB involved a synthetically generated identity. According to the AARP, this type of fraud resulted in more than $47 billion in losses in 2024.

Traditional identity theft, a term coined in 1964, uses another person’s identity to commit a crime. Synthetic identity fraud is a newer form of identity crime using a sophisticated combination of legitimate personally identifiable information, such as social security number or date of birth, and fabricated information to create a new fake person or entity. It is difficult to identify and investigate, making it the fastest growing financial crime.

“Identity theft and the use of synthetic identities are the foundation for life insurance, medical-related fraud and cargo theft,” said NICB President and CEO David J. Glawe. “The everchanging digital environment, coupled with artificial intelligence, has enabled criminals to create bogus identities and pose as a deceased person’s beneficiary to collect life insurance payouts, submit false medical expenses to receive reimbursement, or even reroute goods for sale on the black market. Some thieves are creating fictious business entities that use identity crimes as the underpinning of criminal activity that targets the insurance industry.”

NICB is currently piloting a machine-learning tool to proactively find spurious identities using anomalous identifier patterns and data aggregators to detect inconsistencies such as multiple dates of birth linked to a single social security number. Once flagged by the tool, investigators can find and intercept instances of claims thought to have a related identity theft.

Prevalent schemes using a form of identity theft include:

• Cargo Theft: Criminals assume the identity of a legitimate trucker or logistics company and hack into vehicle transporter and cargo websites to set up “fictitious pickups”, all with the aim of collecting and reselling high-value cargo.
• Life Insurance: Account Takeover (ATO) is directly attributed to identity theft in which criminals target insurance and retirement accounts as financial institutions expand digital capabilities for policyholders and participants.
• Medical Reimbursement: Scammers find and use personally identifiable information to obtain medical services and file fraudulent insurance claims for existing and “fabricated” policyholders.
• Rental Properties: Fraudsters who commit identity theft are enabled to purchase renter’s policies on property for which they have no contract and file fictitious claims.
• Vehicle Financing: Stolen and generated information enables those behind these schemes to finance many vehicles within a short period of time with no intention of making payments.

NICB develops proprietary threat assessments based on its own data as well as data from law enforcement, industry intelligence, AARP, Federal Trade Commission, LIMRA and Suparna.

If you suspect potential identity theft, call your insurance carrier and NICB’s hotline at 1-800-TEL-NICB.