Insurance fraud and abuse with special reference on cases of faking car accidents

Prijevare i zlouporabe osiguranja postoje otkad postoje i sama osiguravajuća društva, ali svoj vrhunac dostižu u vrijeme ekspanzije osigurateljne djelatnosti. Veliki financijski gubitci i ostale negativne posljedice koje navedene pojave za sobom nose, potaknuli su osiguravajuća društva da porade na strategiji prepoznavanja i suzbijanja prijevara. U radu su prije svega izneseni oblici u kojima se prijevare i zlouporabe osiguranja pojavljuju, a također su objašnjeni i uzroci koji do njih dovode. Objašnjeni su obveznopravni i kaznenopravni apsketi navedenih pojava te u kontekstu istih predstavljene neke od najzanimljivijih presuda Općinskih sudova. Posebna pažnja posvećena je prijevarama i zlouporabama po policama auto osiguranja, budući da je riječ o vrsti osiguranja koja je najrasprostranjenija pa samim time i najpodložnija prijevarama. U tom kontekstu dodatno je objašnjeno fingiranje prometnih nesreća kao jedan od najčešćih oblika u kojemu se pojavljuju prijevare auto osiguranja. Kako bi se problem dodatno razradio, u radu je predstavljen statistički prikaz broja počinjenih kaznenih djela zlouporabe osiguranja te njihovih počinitelja u periodu od 2015. do 2020. godine. U zaključnim razmatranjima predloženi su neki od načina borbe protiv ovog stalno rastućeg fenomena.Insurance fraud and abuse exist since insurance companies exist themselves, but they reach their peak in the era of expansion of insurance activities. Big financial losses and the other negative consequences which this phenomenon brings with it, encouraged insurance companies to work on their strategy of recognizing and suppression of frauds. Firstly, in this paper are introduced the main forms in which frauds and abuses in insurance appears, also explained the causes that lead to them. Also, this paper explains the obligation and criminal law aspects of this phenomenon in context of which are represented the most interesting sentences of the Municipal courts. Special attention is dedicated to frauds and abuses of car insurance, since it is the type of insurance that is the most common and therefore it is the most susceptible to frauds. In that context, additionaly are explained the cases of faking car accidents as one of the most common forms in which frauds of car insurance appears. In order to elaborate the problem more further, the paper represents the statistic review of number of committed felony insurance abuse and their perpetrators in period from 2015. to 2020. At concluding remarks there are some suggestions of ways to struggle against this constantly growing phenomenon