Investigation Services
Direct Group Investigation Services (DGIS) is the specialist counter fraud investigation team within Direct Group. In addition to providing fraud awareness training and counter fraud strategy to each of our business lines, DGIS holds regular clinics with the counter fraud champions from each of our claims teams and circulates 'good news stories' to all staff. Direct Group's internal processes filter genuine claims for fast-track settlement whilst targetting automatic and manual referrals of suspicious claims for investigation by DGIS. DGIS successfully provides appropriate investigation services to those suspicious claim referrals quickly, validating genuine claims and resolving the others, some of which are fraudulent. DGIS has a growing number of external clients from the insurance company market; Lloyds; a number of solicitor firms and with clients who operate niche schemes.
DGIS' services include, but are not restricted to:
- Research and analysis facilities
- Specialist desk based investigations
- Interactive Telephone Interviews
- Focused Field Visits
- Managed Specialist Investigations
- Counter Fraud Audits on continuing and closed files
- Fraud Consultancy Services
The DGIS team is led by John Baldock, Director of Investigation Services and a well respected and established member of the Insurance Industry counter-fraud community. John is a member of the CII and CILA where he sits on the Anti Fraud Special Interest Group, the International Association of Arson Investigators and the International Association of Auto Theft Investigators.
The DGIS team itself has specialists working in each of our main product areas: Casualty, Motor, Property, Travel and Events, and has a team of Conversation Managers conducting Interactive Telephone Interviews. DGIS are members of the Insurance Fraud Investigators Group (IFIG), the Yorkshire and Humber Fraud Forum and are affiliated to CIFIG and CIFAS.
DGIS Success
- Our success is achieved by the following:
- Detailed knowledge of the principles of insurance
- A clear and efficient counter fraud programme
- Application of a TCF philosophy
- Deployment of current behavioural sciences
- Experienced investigation team of problem solvers
Customers are kept at the centre of the enquiry. We seek to avoid the use of industry jargon and the use of terms which may cause conflict. If there are any issues with the claim we tell the customer what the problem is, what we have done to try to remove the concern, why it is an issue and how they can resolve it. We manage claims using a time frame to ensure that issues are resolved without delay. As such we receive a low proportion of complaints as customers are always kept fully informed of the progress of their claim.
DGIS efficiently and effectively resolves technically challenging claims without complaint. Because of our approach to claims handling and use of efficient processes, DGIS is successful in handling high value and complex claims and equally effective with investigations of lower value claims. DGIS investigates claims across all product lines including but not restricted to Motor, Home, Travel, Event and Casualty claims.
A principal tool is our Interactive Telephone Interview using “Validate”; our fully on-screen decision support tool, which assists our trained Conversation Managers through a structured question set and scoring process. "Validate" was developed in a joint venture with global actuarial consultancy firm, EMB, and is based on recent academic studies into behavioural science to objectively score a participants response to specifically designed questions in order to measure deceptive behaviour. Recent academic study shows that telephone interviews can be more effective in identifying deceptive behaviour than face to face interviews. Through the primary deployment of this tool, we believe that lower value claims can still be investigated effectively.
For more detail on our service menu please download the latest DGIS brochure.
If you would like to know more about our services, please ask John Baldock using the contact details below:
Tel: 01302 380464
Mobile: 0751 5975696
