You may be surprised to learn that your insurance company may be watching you.

Under a policy for insurance, the insured pays premiums on a monthly or yearly basis, and once coverage is triggered under the policy, the insurance company must pay out benefits under the policy.

While that may sound simple enough, at the end of the day insurance companies are a business and they like to take in money, not pay it out. Rest assured that from the minute you submit a claim your insurance company is looking for ways to deny your claim from the outset.

Even if your claim is initially approved and benefits start to get paid, most people don’t realize that once you’ve been approved for any type of ongoing insurance benefit, such as long-term disability, your insurance company is continually looking for reasons to deny payment of ongoing benefits.

Insurance companies have trained professionals who know how to watch your activities, either in your day-to-day life or online.

One of the easiest ways to track an insured’s activity in the digital age is by searching their online presence and social media postings. People love sharing their photos and videos and information online, to share their thoughts and ideas, or for ‘likes’ and ‘internet karma’.

What they don’t think about is how much they’re really putting out there for insurance companies to find once they start looking. There are numerous social media platforms that insurance companies can navigate and look for information.

This includes photographs and videos of you, across networks like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, amongst others.

Can your insurance company watch you?

While most people don’t think much about posting a video of them dancing and smiling, if you are on long-term disability for physical disabilities this is the sort of thing that could make an insurance company cut off your ongoing benefits.

They don’t know you paid the price for that one dance with a few days of pain afterwards, all they see is the part you posted on social media. The more you post on social media, the more your insurance company has to work with you in trying to deny your ongoing benefits.

Outside of social media, there are numerous online sources that can provide insurance companies with information they can use against you.

Providing information on people

These include websites like canlii.org which lists judgments from Canadian courts and tribunals, Court registries which list upcoming appearances for court matters, social or recreational clubs/groups, the online presence of family or friends, and a plethora of websites designed for the sole purpose of providing information on people.

Almost every aspect of our culture operates online and due to this there is a lot more information out there about people than most people think.

Many insurance companies have entire specialized sections dedicated to internet and social media research on insureds. They are very good at what they do and even if your profiles are private, you should be very careful of what, if anything, you post on social media or any other site online.

Private Investigators & Insurance Adjusters

Insurance companies make use of private investigators (known as PIs) and independent insurance adjusters (known as IAs). These individuals will investigate collateral witnesses to your claims (friends, family, coworkers, etc.) as well as put you under surveillance to get photographic and video evidence to be used against you and your insurance claim.

Insurance companies will allow their private investigators and independent adjusters to do anything to get evidence on their insureds so long as they don’t break any laws, although there is a long history of private investigators and independent adjusters treading a fine line when it comes to staying on the right side of the law and they have, more than once, crossed over that line.

Private investigators and insurance companies

Some insurance companies, notably the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (or ICBC), limit what their private investigators or independent adjusters can do when trying to obtain photographic or video footage of their insured. ICBC will usually not allow their private investigators to take photos or film video footage if there are children visible.

While having someone under surveillance may seem extreme to the average person, from the insurance company’s perspective the cost to have surveillance on their insureds can be minuscule when balanced against how much money they will have to pay out for ongoing claims. For the insurance company, it’s well worth the spend.

Once you make an insurance claim, you never know when you might be under surveillance which is why honesty is always the best policy.

Private investigators and insurance companies

What to do if you believe you are under surveillance?

If you believe you are under surveillance, what should you do? First off, so long as you haven’t been lying to your insurance company you have nothing to worry about. That being said no one feels comfortable knowing that someone is watching and likely filming their every move.

Insurance denial lawyer, Brian Jacobson, says, “If you are actively being followed by a private investigator or independent insurance adjuster, do what you would if anyone else was following you and making you uncomfortable, call the police.

Report the description of the person you believe is following you with the make and model of the vehicle and let the police deal with it. If you tell the truth, surveillance is usually not a concern. It’s extremely rare to find a case where surveillance footage really makes a difference one way or another.”

Social media posts

With respect to social media posts, Jacobson says that while it’s good practice to not post when you have an active claim, these too are not usually that big of a concern.

The Courts have consistently held that what people post on their social media is not reflective of their real life, taking note of the fact that a social media post with filters and lenses can be deceptive.

If you have an insurance claim and feel you are under surveillance, contact an experienced insurance denial lawyer today. They can help you understand your rights and what remedies you might have against your insurance company.

We hope you found this article on if your insurance company can watch you interesting.

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Can your insurance company watch you?