Contractor Fraud and AOB Red Flags for Adjusters

This guide is for independent and public adjusters who work storm claims, which means it is for anyone who has ever opened a contractor estimate and felt their stomach drop.

Most contractors are exactly what they claim to be: skilled trades doing necessary work. But every adjuster eventually crosses paths with the other kind, and the damage they cause spreads fast. An inflated scope or a doorstep assignment of benefits does not just hurt the carrier. It stalls payment for an honest policyholder, drags the claim toward litigation, and parks your name next to numbers you never verified.

The warning signs are remarkably consistent from storm to storm: the deductible that gets waived, the AOB signed before any scope exists, the supplements that arrive without new discovery, the materials invoiced but never installed. Adjusters who know the pattern can protect the file early, calmly, and without turning every claim into an accusation.

Inside the free PDF:

• The critical distinction between aggressive advocacy and actual fraud, and why confusing them costs you credibility
• AOB in plain English: what an assignment does, its legitimate uses, and the abuse pattern to watch for
• The full red flag checklist across solicitation, contracts, scopes, invoices, and behavior
• The documentation habits that make your file fraud resistant: photos, measurements, logs, and line by line reconciliation
• What to do when you suspect fraud, on both the carrier side and the PA side
• The six mistakes that turn a suspicious file into a lost one

Download the free field guide and put the checklist in your truck. You will not need it on most claims. On the claim where you do, it will save you weeks.

Files defend themselves when the record is already built. See how MESHA organizes photos, scopes, weather verification, and every conversation automatically as the claim moves. Join the waitlist at mesha.cc/waitlist

This guide is part of MESHA Academy, free field education for adjusters: mesha.cc/academy. MESHA for adjusters: mesha.cc