Insurance companies are watching you – on Facebook and everywhere else

Don’t look now, but insurance companies and law officers are following you — on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. In their claims investigations, they’re going online to find information that could undermine your case and possibly send you to jail.

• Example #1: The Sun-Sentinel reports that a St. Lucie County woman claimed that a hit-and-run driver damaged her car. The insurance company discovered via her Facebook page that the woman’s daughter was to blame. The policyholder was convicted of filing a fraudulent insurance claim.

• Example #2: The same Sun-Sentinel article reports that a policy investigator found that two people involved in auto accident were friends on Facebook. However, they were in separate cars. When the policyholders on the vehicles were show that information, they confessed and were charged with fraud.

Are insurance companies and police officers invading your privacy? If the information is easily visible on your Facebook page or put on Twitter for anyone to see, then the answer is no. Once published, even the simplest statements about your health or damage to personal property could be used against you.

Even before your case is in the hands of an attorney, you should not discuss your accident with anyone. That includes your neighbors, your Facebook friends, your Twitter followers, pen pals, etc. You don’t who is watching your words or moves. The only person you should talk to about your case is your attorney.

You can still go online or get on the phone to talk about what a terrible season the Miami Dolphins are having or how you’re looking forward to cooler Florida weather. But when it comes to your insurance claim, remember that you’re being watched.