Marine Insurance Fraud and Emerging Technology

Abstract

<p>Marine insurance fraud is probably as old as marine insurance itself. The courts hand out judgments - for or against insurers - following lengthy, complex and costly litigation year-after-year. The losses to innocent shipping companies, cargo owners, agents, brokers, insurers and others, however, go on. Might technology succeed in defeating – or at least deterring – fraud where the ‘law’ has failed? This chapter looks at the use of emerging technology, including smart contracts and Artificial Intelligence (AI) by insurers and the marine transport industry to combat those who perpetrate marine insurance fraud. It considers how such technology may have resolved some of the more controversial fraud litigation of recent years and how the relationship between this technology and the law may develop in the future.</p>