Katrina Insurance Fraud Caught via Satellite Imagery

A couple in New Orleans was arrested and charged with insurance fraud when satellite images revealed the damage to their house occurred after Katrina. The tip off to insurance investigators? The damage didn’t look like other damage, but looked man-made. That inspired a look at imagery at eventually the charge of fraud.

The article in the Times-Picayune does not say whose imagery was used but a statement referring to “patches of rooftop as small as 2 square feet” makes me think its DigitalGlobe imagery. The intersting piece of information from a geospatial business perspetive is that while insurance investigators can look at imagery before and after Katrina from many sources for free on the Internet (courtesy of the commercial satellite companies and government agencies) they must purchase hard copy prints to be used in court as evidence. So, there is some payback for the “good will” of the commercial players. Of course investigators need to look at the savings in terms of the cost to determine if such prosecutions will continue.