Protect Your Company From Uncovered Crime Losses

AUGUST 1, 2023

Companies of all types are exposed to crime losses, yet many small-to-medium-sized businesses lack appropriate crime insurance. For many companies, a crime loss can be devastating. According to a 2020 Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) report, the median loss per instance of fraud in North America was $120,000 — and 54% of the victimized companies didn’t recover any of their losses.

Despite the availability and affordability of crime coverage, it’s common for businesses to retain the risk of crime losses because they don’t receive proper guidance or advice from their brokers.

Most crime policies offer a variety of insuring agreements, which can be confusing for a business owner. Since every business has its own unique financial situation, tolerance to risk, and risk controls, it’s important to have a knowledgeable insurance partner that can help navigate the various crime exposures a business can face.

USI Insurance Services can help identify the specific crime exposures of your company and tailor the right kind of coverage to protect you against the financial impact of crime losses.

What Does Commercial Crime Insurance Cover?

Each crime insurance policy is written differently. Insurers apply different conditions for coverage depending on who commits the crime, how the crime was executed, and the type of crime.

Standard insuring agreements offered by crime policies include:

• Employee dishonesty (theft) coverage: Pays for employee theft of money, securities, and other property.
  
  
• Forgery or alteration coverage: Pays for losses resulting from the forgery or alteration of checks, bank drafts, promissory notes, etc., drawn on the insured’s bank account.
  
  
• Money and securities coverage: Pays for losses of money and securities resulting from theft, or destruction by a fire or other perils.
  
  
• Money orders and counterfeit money coverage: Pays for a loss when fraudulent money orders or counterfeit money is accepted by an insured in exchange for merchandise, money, or services.
  
  
• Robbery or safe burglary coverage: Provides protection against the theft of money and securities, inventory, equipment, or other property which, in some instances, are not covered under a property policy. This includes theft of property occurring inside or outside the premises.
  
  
• Computer fraud coverage: Pays for loss of money, securities, and other tangible property caused when a computer is used to deceptively transfer these from inside the insured’s business locations (or a bank) to a person or place outside those locations.
  
  
• Funds transfer fraud coverage: Pays for loss of money and securities when a thief pretending to be the insured instructs the bank to transfer funds from the insured’s account using the agreed-upon methods, codes, and passwords.
  
  
• Social engineering fraud: Coverage for losses caused by employees tricked into sending a company’s money, securities, or other property to a fraudster who is impersonating a customer, client, vendor, fellow employee, or company executive.

Claim Example:

An employee had been taking inventory and selling it for her own profit. The theft was discovered when another employee saw the company’s items in the trunk of her car. After an investigation, the employer found this had been going on for several months. It was determined that $9,800 worth of inventory had been stolen, which wasn’t covered under their property policy. Because of USI’s unique approach to evaluating their operations and exposures, our client had comprehensive crime coverage with USI’s ExecuSafe program, and the claim was paid.