Gender Differences in Varieties of Insurance Fraud
Open Access
- Author:
- Ruggiero, Natalia Teresa
- Area of Honors:
- Criminology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Darrell J Steffensmeier, Thesis Supervisor
Stacy Silver, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Fraud
Insurance Fraud
Gender
White Collar Crime
Gender Differences - Abstract:
- This thesis contributes to the literature on female crime and also research on insurance fraud, which could be presently viewed as a serious crime problem. The study addressed three main questions: (1) Are women as involved in insurance fraud as much as men? (2) Which types of insurance frauds are women more likely to be involved in? (3) Do women tend to commit insurance fraud alone, in mixed sex groups, or with other females? Two sources were used to explore the role of gender in different forms of insurance fraud. First, quantitative data from the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud were collected from current news stories. The news reports provided information on 15 forms of insurance fraud – of which medical, workers compensation, and auto related frauds were the most common. Second, an interview was conducted with an FBI fraud expert. Key findings were as follows. Overall, more men were involved in insurance fraud than women. Findings suggest, though, that when it comes to less lucrative forms of fraud, there are significant similarities between male and female involvement. Both genders committed more health related frauds than any other insurance fraud considered in the dataset. The largest difference between genders was evident when looking at the organization of the fraud – whether the fraud was committed alone or if there were 2 or more offenders. When women were involved in fraud, the majority committed fraud in a mixed sex group, usually with their significant other or kin. Females seldom committed fraud with other females. Findings were generally consistent with extant research and theory on gender differences in involvement in crime, and in financial fraud in particular.