When someone commits insurance fraud, they do so intending to obtain payment from an insurance company for something that did not actually take place. Insurance fraud typically costs billions of dollars each year, and the public helps to pay for this with higher premium rates on their own policies. This type of fraud has become quite a problem, as people are into it as a supposedly easy way to make a profit. Insurance fraud is generally classified as soft or hard fraud. Hard fraud takes place when someone actually plans a loss, such as a fire, an automobile accident, or a stolen vehicle. They carry out their plans, and because they are covered for the “accident” by insurance, sit back and wait for a payoff. Soft fraud is when someone pads a genuine insurance claim a bit, perhaps by claiming their car received a little more damage than it actually did. Insurance claims are carefully analyzed by computer in an attempt to catch suspicious ones that could be fraudulent.