The Evolving Nature of Social Engineering Claims

The Financial Services Group at Aon’s Adam Furmansky and Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Kevin Small and Alice Weeks discuss the evolving nature of social engineering claims and the importance of understanding the breadth of coverage under a crime policy.

Key Takeaways

Whether a policyholder suffers “direct loss” from a social engineering scam will depend on the policy language at issue and the governing law.

Recent case law trends in favor of finding that a policyholder suffers a “direct loss” when a social engineering scam results in funds being transferred to an impersonator.

However, controlling case law still exists in some jurisdictions that strictly construe coverage, making it harder for policyholders to establish coverage for losses resulting from social engineering scams.