Like a rogue iceberg, poorly tracked claims for stolen and damaged boats have caused millions of dollars in losses for the insurance industry, while creating a huge niche area for fraud that many insurers are unaware of, fraud prevention experts contend.
"The stolen boat problem is so grossly underreported that it’s not getting anyone’s attention," said Todd Schwede, a board member of the International Association of Marine Investigators and owner of Todd & Associates, a San Diego marine investigation and survey firm.
Mr. Schwede and other fraud fighters described a variety of clever boat scams that crooks pull off due to loopholes in the system. They cited claims for paper "ghost" boats, repair fakery and loss exaggeration.
Such activity, they said, takes place with regularity due in large part to a lack of coordination among states and desultory theft reporting.
