Happy Wednesday! In this week's Big I Buzz, we are discussing InsurCon2021, the recent T-Mobile cyberattack and the increase in Minnesota insurance fraud referrals. 

InsurCon

Thank you every who attended InsurCon2021 last week! It was so nice to reconnect with everyone after all of this time apart. We are proud to have brought together such an amazing group of insurance professionals to further the goals and growth of the independent agent channel. We've put together a collection of photos from InsurCon on our website at iiaw.com/insurcon. Keep an eye out for our September magazine, where we will be publishing more photos from our event. 

If you have any photos from InsurCon that you would like to share, please send them to kaylyn@iiaw.com. 

Mark your calendars for InsurCon2022 on May 9-10 at the Kalahari Resorts & Convention Center in Wisconsin Dells, WI. Stay tuned as we will be releasing more information on next year's convention!

T-Mobile Says Hackers Stole 7.8 Million Current Customers' Personal Data

According to Reuters, "T-Mobile US Inc said on Wednesday an ongoing investigation into a cyberattack on its systems revealed that some personal data of about 7.8 million of its current postpaid customers were compromised." Additionally, data from about 850,000 prepaid customers and more than 40 million records from former or prospective customers were also stolen, T-Mobile said. The breached information included customer first & last names, date of birth, social security numbers and driver's license information. T-Mobile stated that there was no indication of customer financial details being compromised. 

Insurance Fraud Referrals Up by 11% in Minnesota in 2020

According to the Minnesota Commerce Fraud Bureau, the state's primary law enforcement agency focused on white collar crime, insurance fraud investigations in Minnesota rose by 11% in 2020. The CFB's annual report stated that the investigations' criminal prosecutions had a $6,811,369 economic impact on the state. According to Insurance Journal, "In 2020, the five largest areas of suspected fraud referred to the CFB were: automobile insurance (2,113 cases); health insurance (478 cases); homeowners insurance (353 cases); workers' compensation insurance (131 cases); and agent and broker fraud (101 cases). Read more about the annual report here. 

For more news, check out the Action news section of our weekly e-newsletter, Big I Buzz. If you aren’t subscribed, click here to add your email to our emailing list. We hope that everyone has a great rest of their week!