Consumers Edit Claim Photos
A new Verisk study finds 36% of consumers would consider digitally altering insurance claim images — and that jumps to 55% for Gen Z, signaling mass-market willingness to doctor evidence. That normalization of image editing raises fresh fraud vectors for SIU and claims workflows as generative tools spread. (globenewswire.com)
Verisk’s 2026 State of Insurance Fraud study drew on two national surveys — 1,000 U.S. consumers and 300 insurance claims professionals — fielded between December 2025 and January 2026. (claimsjournal.com) Nearly all insurer respondents reported encountering manipulated or AI‑altered documentation, with 98–99% saying AI editing tools are driving a rise in digital insurance fraud and 76% saying manipulated submissions have grown more sophisticated. (verisk.com) (claimsjournal.com) Confidence in detection is uneven: 58% of carriers say they are very confident spotting edits to real photos or videos, but only 32% say they are very confident identifying deepfakes and 43% feel very confident assessing authenticity at scale. (claimsjournal.com) Consumers differentiate edits by type: 52% view adjusting brightness/contrast as acceptable, 41% accept flipping/rotating or repairing a blurry photo, 39% accept cropping, while 15% say exaggerating damage is acceptable and 13% accept creating a photo of damage that never occurred. (claimsjournal.com) Among consumers who have used AI editing tools, 44% describe their results as “very realistic,” and 41% of respondents say they know someone who has used AI editing to alter or create content for financial gain. (verisk.com) Insurer operational gaps surfaced: 39% cited insufficient integration between fraud tools and claims systems, 38% said detection tools miss too many altered images, 35% reported false positives, and current countermeasures include 65% using third‑party automated AI detection, 50% using internally developed AI, and 44% relying on manual review. (claimsjournal.com) Verisk’s Shane Riedman, president of Anti‑Fraud Analytics, warned that many consumers don’t view small edits as crossing a line and called for stronger collaboration, clearer boundaries and more connected systems and technologies to protect policyholders and preserve trust. (verisk.com)
