Fraudsters Learned to "Crash" Cars with Neural Networks: Insurers are Already Losing Hundreds of Thousands

A new type of insurance fraud related to neural networks has begun to gain momentum in Russia. Attackers are forging photographs of damaged cars and trying to receive payments under Compulsory Motor Third-Party Liability Insurance. So far, there are few such cases, but experts warn: the technology is developing faster than protection systems.

Everything Went Digital

The reason for the emergence of the scheme is the mass transition of insurance companies to remote loss settlement. Clients were allowed to independently photograph car damage and upload images through applications. This sped up payments, but at the same time opened a loophole for abuse.

Photography and video are no longer unconditional proof. Now they can be "drawn".

"Crash" a Car for a Couple of Hundred Rubles

Announcements are already appearing on the network offering to "enhance the damage" to the car for a nominal fee. The scheme works like this: after a minor accident with a Europrotocol drawn up, the owner transfers a photo of the car to "specialists." The neural network turns a scratch into a deep dent, adds cracks, chips and damage to the lights.

As a result, damage of 10-15 thousand rubles on paper turns into 100-400 thousand. Formally, this is a criminal offense, but there are those who want to take the risk.

How Neural Networks Fake Reality

Modern AIs, including the latest generation models, can work not with abstract pictures, but with real photographs. A text command is enough - and the algorithm adds damage so that it is difficult to distinguish it from the real one.

You can show "the same" crack from different angles, zoom in on it, change the lighting. For the human eye, such images look convincing.

Why It's Getting Harder for Insurers

An expert is theoretically able to recognize a fake by details, but in practice it is difficult. One loss adjustment specialist handles dozens, and sometimes hundreds of cases. In conditions of high workload, no one will carefully study every pixel.

So far, insurance companies are coping with selective checks and analytics, but the question remains open: what will happen when fakes become indistinguishable from reality.

What This Threatens the Market With

The growth of such schemes may lead to stricter checks, slower payments and an increase in the cost of Compulsory Motor Third-Party Liability Insurance for everyone. The digital convenience for which procedures were simplified risks turning into a new round of distrust.

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