At VerifyPDF we have been warning of this for about two years: organized criminal groups and sneaky individuals are taking advantage of insurance companies by providing fake documents with inflated numbers as part of the claims process. Now, Dutch media outlet NOS has echoed this fear in a recent article that has been going around. You can read the original NOS article here (in Dutch).
In a nutshell, document fraud is particularly prevalent in travel and cancellation insurance, where fraudsters create fake medical certificates and vacation invoices to claim reimbursement for trips that allegedly couldn’t proceed. The investigation also revealed significant fraud activity in personal liability insurance (where fake receipts for expensive electronics like televisions are submitted) and home insurance (including fabricated claims for non-existent items like expensive garden furniture sets worth over €2,000).
These insurance categories appear especially vulnerable because they often rely on easily manipulated supporting documents such as medical statements, purchase receipts and invoices that can now be convincingly forged using readily available AI tools.
Or so it seems, let’s dive deeper into this.
The NOS Investigation: A wake-up call for the insurance industry?
According to the NOS article, AI has fundamentally transformed document fraud, making it significantly more accessible to criminals. Previously, fraudsters needed specialized skills in programs like Photoshop to create convincing fake documents, but now they can simply upload files to AI programs and request modifications with minimal technical knowledge. This dramatic reduction in barriers has led to a surge in sophisticated document manipulation cases that are increasingly difficult to detect through traditional methods.
The financial impact of these AI-enabled fraud schemes can be substantial, with the Dutch Association of Insurers warning that the consequences extend far beyond monetary losses. When caught, perpetrators face severe penalties including immediate policy cancellation, inability to obtain new insurance coverage, responsibility for investigation costs and potential criminal prosecution.
While insurance companies acknowledge the growing problem and have dedicated fraud departments actively monitoring for AI-manipulated documents, they currently lack comprehensive data on the full scope of this emerging threat, making it a particularly challenging issue for the industry to address systematically.
What the article gets completely wrong
At VerifyPDF, we agree with the findings of the investigation and appreciate the public attention that they are bringing to the issue. However, there is something the article is not doing correctly.
These fake documents have nothing to do with AI. I repeat, this whole problem has nothing to do with AI!
The reality is that those examples mentioned in the article are simple manipulations with standard PDF editors that use no traditional AI, machine learning or generative AI at all. This is sensationalistic and it misses the point completely. Criminals are not using some AI to fake bank statements or invoices, simply because the non-deterministic nature of AI makes it not suitable for this purpose.
Instead, online PDF editors are parsing existing documents, reusing embedded fonts already in the original documents and allowing the quick modification of documents while retaining the same look-and-feel, alignment and document properties as the originals they come from.
What is truly happening with insurance claims fraud?
What we are actually seeing is the continued use of conventional document editing tools: the same PDF editors, word processors and basic image manipulation software that have been available for years. The process requires no artificial intelligence whatsoever: it is simply digital cut-and-paste work that any computer user can perform with readily available software.
How misreporting supposedly AI fraud threatens the insurance industry?
The misattribution to AI not only creates unnecessary panic about emerging technology but also diverts attention from the real solution: robust document verification systems. By focusing on the supposed “AI threat,” organizations may overlook the fundamental need for cryptographic signatures, tamper-evident formats and proper authentication and verification protocols that would prevent document fraud regardless of the editing method used.
This mischaracterization also undermines legitimate discussions about actual AI-related security concerns. When every instance of digital document manipulation gets labeled as “AI fraud”, it becomes harder to identify and address genuine AI-powered threats while simultaneously making traditional document security measures seem inadequate when they are actually perfectly capable of preventing these conventional editing attacks.
What can the insurance companies do?
As discussed previously in this blog post and this one, the key is implementing comprehensive automated verification systems.
Rather than relying solely on manual review processes that are overwhelmed by volume and increasingly sophisticated forgeries, insurers should adopt AI-powered document verification platforms like VerifyPDF that can analyze thousands of claims documents in real-time.
These systems excel at detecting the exact type of fraud highlighted in the NOS investigation: template-based manipulations where fraudsters reuse the same fake invoices, certificates or receipts across multiple claims.
Conclusion
By leveraging pattern recognition at scale, multi-layered document analysis and continuous learning capabilities, insurance companies can identify suspicious patterns that would be nearly impossible for human reviewers to catch across large volumes of claims.
The investment in automated verification technology not only prevents fraudulent payouts but also streamlines legitimate claim processing, ultimately protecting both the insurer’s bottom line and honest policyholders from the increased premiums that result from widespread fraud.