Crime exposures are mostly excluded from standard property and liability policies and are covered under a separate commercial crime policy.
- Employee dishonesty / fidelity, covers the insured's loss of money, securities, or other property by dishonest acts of an employee (embezzlement, theft from inside). The single largest crime exposure for most businesses.
- Theft of money and securities, inside and outside the premises covers third-party theft of cash and securities, on premises and in transit.
- Forgery and alteration, covers loss from forged or altered cheques or financial instruments drawn against the insured.
- Computer fraud and funds transfer fraud, covers loss from unauthorized electronic transfers, including social-engineering scams (e.g., a fraudster impersonating an executive instructs the bookkeeper to wire funds). Coverage for social engineering is often a separate sublimit; read it carefully.
- Money orders and counterfeit currency, small specialty coverage.
Commercial crime is normally written as a named-perils policy: the insured proves the loss falls within a listed insuring agreement. Coverage typically excludes shareholders, partners, and directors as "employees" unless specifically endorsed.
Common mistake: assuming the CGL policy covers theft of money by an employee. It does not. CGL excludes loss of money the insured owns and excludes dishonest acts of employees (Coverage A definition of "property damage" and standard exclusions). Theft of the insured's own money is a crime policy claim, not a CGL one.
⚠️ Trap: Social-engineering fraud (funds transfer induced by phishing) is often a separate, smaller sublimit even on policies that include computer fraud. The classic "wire transfer to a fake CEO" claim has had inconsistent treatment.
Recall: Which crime insuring agreement covers an embezzling bookkeeper? Why does CGL not respond to theft of the insured's own funds by an employee?