Good hands? Allstate insurance is searching your social media

Last November, Allstate partnered up with Carpe Data, a data analytics company which provided it with a tool that searches publicly-visibile social media accounts automatically so its claims adjusters don’t have to, catching potential frauds faster and more efficiently.

Carpe Data uses automated data collection to help with risk assessment, as well as settling claims. As an example, Carpe Data said a claimant who was allegedly too injured to work was posting photos to social media of themselves rock climbing and horseback riding, casting doubt on their claim.

According to the company, it wasn’t necessarily the smoking gun in this claim, but they were able to “help Allstate more accurately predict risk and provide better service while protecting the company from potential fraud.” We’ve reached out to Allstate for comment about what kind of double-checking it does to verify Carpe’s finds.

An Allstate spokesperson told Tearsheet the company went public with its social media search partnership for the sake of transparency. When asked if anyone should be worried about their social media being snooped through, they said, “The only people who should be concerned with Carpe Data looking at public-facing profiles are those who are committing fraud.”

If nothing else, this should prompt anyone who wasn’t already doing so to set their most audacious statuses to private.