Russian Central Bank revealed regions with the highest numbers of frauds related to purchasing compulsory third-party liability insurance for motor vehicles (OSAGO). The majority of these regions are located in North Caucasus.
Car owners face a high risk of fraudulent schemes when obtaining OSAGO insurance in a total of nine regions, according to the Bank of Russia. These include the entire North Caucasus as well as the neighboring Republic of Adygeya, the Krasnodar Territory and the Stavropol Territory, RBC reports.
The statistics is based on the number of insured accidents reported in each region. If too many insured accidents are reported during a specific period of time while not so many are reported in another, this may indicate that some road accidents are fabricated, Central Bank analysts note.
Moreover, the cost of damages is often overrated in the above regions. Selling a high number of forged OSAGO insurances is another issue.
In the Central Bank survey, the Russian regions are divided into three categories: red zones where the risk of car insurance fraud is high, yellow zones where the risk is moderate, and green zones where fraud in this industry is not common.