NICB's 'The Informer' Highlights 2020 Auto Crime Spikes

COVID-19, Economic Downturn Driving Factors of Increasing Crime

DES PLAINES, Ill., March 24, 2021 — The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), the insurance industry’s association dedicated to predicting, preventing, and prosecuting insurance crime, is pleased to release its latest edition of The NICB Informer. This new publication is aimed at providing insurance industry executives with anticipatory intelligence to help identify risks and emerging threats to the industry. This edition focuses on the alarming increase in crimes involving vehicles in 2020 and the reasons behind this troubling trend.

“The pandemic has had a significant impact on society,” said NICB President and CEO David Glawe. “Auto thefts have increased across the U.S. in almost every major city. Carjackings in major metropolitan areas such as Washington D.C., New York City, and Chicago are seeing major increases. As we examine in this issue, there are other, more systemic causes for the increase in thefts beyond individuals simply leaving their keys or fobs in their vehicles,” said Glawe.

In this edition, articles range from auto thefts and carjackings on the rise to auto glass fraud impacting several states to an uptick in catalytic converter thefts. The NICB Informer is a first-of-its-kind publication primarily dedicated to insurance crime, fraud, and emerging threats.

“We believe this publication showcases NICB’s unique position within the industry as the only organization that proactively identifies, combats, and prevents crimes affecting the insurance industry, all to achieve mission effectiveness and ensure the highest level of service to our members. We use intelligence sources combined with big data to deliver a high velocity of outputs and information to inform our industry leaders and partners. Our goal is to provide maximum value and service to our members through strategic innovation and lead the fight against fraud and crimes affecting the insurance industry,” added Glawe.

While the publication is directed toward CEOs and executives within the insurance industry and law enforcement partners, anyone interested in receiving a free digital copy of The NICB Informer can send an email to TheNICBInformer@nicb.org to be added to the distribution.