Attorney General's Insurance Fraud Division Releases 2008 Report

Attorney General Henry McMaster has issued the 2008 annual insurance fraud report.

During 2008 the Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Division secured 135 convictions for insurance fraud, a 44 percent increase over 2007 with 94 convictions. This number represents the most convictions by the Insurance Fraud Division since its creation in 1994.

“With the state of our economy, more and more people in South Carolina are turning toward insurance fraud. They think it’s a quick fix for their personal financial situation and don’t think it affects anyone else,” said Edwin Constant, president of the South Carolina Insurance Fraud Investigators, “In reality it affects everyone in the state.”

Last year there were 815 insurance fraud complaints received by the Insurance Fraud Division, compared to 712 complaints received in 2007. The total amount of insurance fraud reported was more than $3.3 million, a drop from the previous year with $8.4 million.

Nearly $400,000 in fines and restitution were ordered paid by the courts. This brings the total to nearly $78 million in insurance fraud reported and nearly $6 million in monies collected since the South Carolina Attorney General's Insurance Fraud Division began prosecuting insurance fraud cases in 1995.

Highlights from the Attorney General’s 2008 Insurance Fraud Report:

• The greatest number of complaints were due to automobile insurance fraud (57%) and personal/commercial property fraud (12%) followed by workers’ compensation fraud (11%) and health/medical fraud (10%).
• Cases have come from all around the state of South Carolina and break down by region as follows:

◦ Low Country – 37% (175)
◦ Pee Dee – 22% (106)
◦ Piedmont – 22% (103)
◦ Midlands - 19% (88)

• Charleston County reported both the highest number of complaints made (29) and the highest total amount of insurance fraud reported with $ 921,756.49 reported in insurance fraud.


The Insurance Fraud Division currently has five attorneys and four South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigators working to stomp out insurance fraud in South Carolina.

The South Carolina Insurance Fraud Hotline, 1-888-95-FRAUD, is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for reporting insurance fraud, which can be a felony in South Carolina. All reports remain confidential.

For a complete copy of the 2008 Annual Report from the Office of the Attorney General's Insurance Fraud Division or to review county data, link to the South Carolina Insurance News Service at www.scinsurance.net.