What does commercial crime insurance cover—and what requires separate review?

By Mark Melliand, owner, Melliand Insurance Agency · 13 years as an independent agent · Published October 27, 2026

Short answer: Commercial crime insurance generally covers your business’s own direct losses of money, securities and other property from specified crimes, such as employee theft, forgery, robbery or certain computer and funds transfer fraud. It’s usually built from separate insuring agreements, each with its own definitions, limits and conditions. Buying “crime insurance” doesn’t mean every kind of theft or fraud is covered. A standalone crime policy, a crime coverage part in a package and a crime endorsement on a BOP can differ in what they include.

What crime insurance is about

The Texas Department of Insurance says “you can buy coverage to protect your business from several types of crime,” and lists common coverages including robbery and safe burglary, forgery and alteration, employee theft, cyber crime, and money and securities on or off your business site (TDI). Travelers describes fidelity and crime coverage as addressing threats including “losses due to employee dishonesty,” computer fraud, funds transfer fraud and social engineering fraud (Travelers).

Crime insurance is mainly first-party coverage: it covers your business’s own loss. Some forms also include coverage for clients’ property or other interests, but only where a specific insuring agreement provides it. That’s different from liability insurance, which responds to claims others make against you.

Common insuring agreements

The illustrative standard form reviewed (ISO Commercial Crime Policy (Discovery Form) CR 00 22 06 22) is organized into separate insuring agreements. Others may be labeled or grouped differently. In that form, they include:

Employee theft. Loss of money, securities and other property resulting directly from theft by an employee, whether identified or not, acting alone or in collusion. The Hartford calls employee theft “the foundation of commercial crime insurance” (The Hartford).
Employee theft of clients’ property. A separate agreement in the illustrative form for clients’ property stolen by an identified employee, with its own terms. The Hartford lists client coverage as optional.
Forgery or alteration. Loss from forgery or alteration of checks, drafts and similar written orders to pay drawn on your account or by your agent. In the illustrative form, this agreement also covers certain legal expenses if you’re sued for refusing to pay a forged instrument, with the insurer’s written consent.
Money and securities inside and outside the premises. Theft, disappearance or destruction of money and securities inside your premises or bank premises, and covered property while in the care of a messenger or armored motor vehicle company, under the form’s conditions. Robbery and safe burglary of other property inside the premises is a separate agreement in the illustrative form.
Computer fraud. In the illustrative form, loss from a fraudulent entry or change of electronic data or a computer program in a computer system, causing money or property to be transferred beyond your control or your account to be debited, without your knowledge or consent.
Funds transfer fraud. In the illustrative form, loss when your financial institution debits your account based on a transfer instruction that was fraudulently issued by an imposter, without your knowledge or consent.
Fraudulent impersonation (social engineering). In the illustrative form, loss from a transfer made in good-faith reliance on a fraudulent instruction from someone impersonating a vendor, client, employee or similar person. Chubb describes social engineering as when “an impostor posing as a vendor, client or authorized employee persuades an employee” (Chubb). The Hartford lists “Deception Fraud/Social Engineering Fraud” as optional.
Money orders and counterfeit money accepted in good faith, in the illustrative form.

Your policy may include some, all or none of these, and may add others such as investigative expenses. Check the declarations to see which agreements apply and the limit for each.

Similar-looking frauds, different coverage questions

Computer fraud, funds transfer fraud and social engineering are separate coverage questions, even when email or a computer is involved. The illustrative form’s computer and funds transfer fraud agreements focus on fraudulent entries or instructions made without your knowledge or consent. Social engineering is typically handled by a separate fraudulent impersonation agreement, which applies when an employee is tricked into making a transfer. Verification procedures, voluntary-transfer provisions, exclusions, definitions and endorsements can all affect which agreement, if any, applies. A particular fraudulent transfer may not be covered under a particular agreement.

Scenario	Coverage to review	Questions to ask
An employee takes business funds	Employee theft	Does the person meet the policy’s definition of “employee”? Was the loss discovered and reported as the policy requires? How does the form group related or repeated acts?
Someone alters a business check	Forgery or alteration	Was the check drawn on your account or by your agent? Does a deductible or sublimit apply?
An outsider gains unauthorized access and transfers money	Computer fraud; funds transfer fraud	Was the transfer made without your knowledge or consent? Was the person without authorized access? Do cyber policy terms also apply?
An employee is deceived by a fake vendor payment instruction	Fraudulent impersonation (social engineering), if purchased	Is this agreement included, and what’s its limit? Were the policy’s verification requirements followed? Does a voluntary-transfer or similar provision apply under other agreements?
A customer’s property is stolen by someone working for the business	Employee theft of clients’ property, if included	Is client coverage included? Was the person an identified employee? Where was the property?

Important conditions to review

Definitions, covered interests and exclusions in a crime form apply as stated in each insuring agreement, subject to that agreement’s terms and exceptions. The points below are examples from the illustrative form, not a complete description of any policy.

Who counts as an employee. In the illustrative form, “employee” generally includes people you pay directly and have the right to direct, plus certain temporary and leased workers, interns and some managers or directors while performing employee duties, and excludes agents, brokers, independent contractors and similar parties, subject to the form’s exact wording. Owners and partners are treated differently: the illustrative form excludes theft or other dishonest acts by you, your partners or your members, with limited exceptions.
Covered property and interests. The illustrative form has a general ownership condition covering property you own or lease, property you hold for others and property you’re legally liable for, and states that the policy is for your benefit only. Coverage for clients’ property is addressed by its own insuring agreement and terms, so check that agreement separately rather than relying on the general condition.
Direct loss only. The illustrative form excludes indirect loss, such as lost income, and the cost of establishing the existence or amount of a loss. It also excludes your legal fees and expenses except as provided under the forgery agreement. Some policies add investigative expense coverage; Chubb and The Hartford describe this in their products.
Limits, sublimits and deductibles. Each insuring agreement may have its own limit and deductible. The illustrative form says that if a loss is covered under more than one agreement, payment can’t exceed the largest applicable limit. Social engineering coverage may carry a lower limit.
One occurrence or many. Check how the form groups acts by an employee acting alone or in collusion, and how the policy period affects that grouping.
Discovery vs. loss sustained. Some crime forms cover losses discovered during the policy period; others cover losses sustained during the policy period and discovered within a stated time. The illustrative form is a discovery form. This is a timing feature of crime coverage; it isn’t the same as a claims-made liability policy.
Notice and proof of loss. Review the complete notice and proof-of-loss conditions, including deadlines, exceptions and when each period starts. Do not delay notice while investigating the amount.
Prior insurance and replacement coverage. When changing crime policies, ask how losses that began under a prior policy are handled, and whether there’s any gap.
Prior knowledge of dishonesty. In the illustrative form, coverage for an employee ends once a designated person learns of that employee’s theft or other dishonest act, subject to the form’s conditions, and losses caused by an employee whose earlier dishonest acts were known before the policy began are excluded. Ask how your form applies these provisions.
Inventory shortages. The illustrative form’s employee theft provisions exclude losses whose existence or amount depends on an inventory or profit-and-loss computation. That provision allows inventory records and actual physical counts of inventory to support the amount claimed only once you establish, wholly apart from those computations, that a loss occurred.
Investigation expenses and defense. Don’t assume a crime policy includes a duty to defend. The illustrative form’s legal-expense coverage is limited to the forgery agreement. Ask whether investigative expenses are covered and how.

How crime coverage differs from other insurance

Commercial property. The illustrative standard commercial property form (ISO CP 00 10 10 12) doesn’t treat money or securities as covered property. Its causes-of-loss form (ISO CP 10 30 09 17) excludes certain dishonest or criminal acts by you, your employees and others you entrust property to, and voluntary parting with property induced by a fraudulent scheme or trick, subject to that form’s exceptions and any endorsements. These are examples from unendorsed forms (Conifer-hosted forms package); not every act is treated the same way, so check your property policy. See our commercial property coverage guide.
Cyber insurance. Cyber policies may also include funds transfer fraud or social engineering coverage. The Hartford describes these within its cyber crime coverage and notes a social engineering sublimit may be lower than the overall cyber limit (The Hartford). Whether crime and cyber overlap or leave gaps depends on the actual policies; review them together. For more on cyber coverage, see our guide to what cyber insurance covers.
D&O and EPLI. D&O addresses claims about how a business is managed, and EPLI addresses employment-related claims. Crime covers the business’s own loss from covered crimes. See our D&O / management liability guide and EPLI coverage guide.
Bonds. Confirm the exact bond or insurance requirement. Do not assume a commercial crime policy satisfies a contractual, licensing or employee-benefit-plan bonding obligation. The illustrative form includes a separate ERISA plan-official dishonesty agreement, but any plan bonding question needs its own review.

Hypothetical examples: coverage-review questions

These are illustrations. They describe assumptions, not claim outcomes.

A bookkeeper diverts funds over several years

Assume a long-time bookkeeper has been writing checks to a personal account, and the business discovers it during a review. Questions to review:

Does the policy include employee theft, and does the bookkeeper meet the definition of employee?
Is it a discovery or loss-sustained form, and how does that affect losses from earlier years?
How does the form group the bookkeeper’s acts, and how does the policy period affect that grouping?
What notice and proof-of-loss conditions apply, and when do they start?
Can the loss be established apart from inventory or profit-and-loss computations?

An employee pays a fake vendor invoice

Assume an employee receives an email that appears to come from a regular supplier with new bank details, and pays the next invoice to that account. Questions to review:

Does the policy include fraudulent impersonation or social engineering coverage, and what’s its limit?
Did the business follow any verification steps the coverage requires?
Could computer fraud or funds transfer fraud apply instead, or does a voluntary-transfer provision prevent it?
Does a cyber policy also include social engineering coverage?

A worker steals property from a client’s site

Assume a cleaning company employee steals items while working at a client’s office. Questions to review:

Does the policy include client property coverage, and what are that agreement’s terms?
Was the person an identified employee under the form?
What does the client contract require, and does a certificate or other coverage come into play?

Checklist: what to review

Your full crime policy or coverage part: declarations, each insuring agreement and all endorsements
Which insuring agreements apply, and the limit and deductible for each. See our guide to what information you need for a commercial crime insurance quote.
Who counts as an employee, and how owners, officers, contractors and temporary workers are treated
Which entities are covered, and what property and interests are covered, including clients’ property
Your payment authorization and verification procedures, and any coverage conditions tied to them
Whether the policy is a discovery or loss-sustained form, and the notice and proof-of-loss requirements
How prior losses and changes of insurer are handled
How your crime and cyber policies fit together

Don’t send bank login credentials, account numbers, employee identifiers or confidential incident files through ordinary email or a website form. Ask what’s needed, and arrange an appropriate secure way to provide it.

Sources

Insurer and regulator pages describe their own products or give general guidance; they don’t describe every policy. The standard forms are cited for illustration only. They aren’t confirmed as the forms, editions or endorsements in any current Texas policy. Your policy’s wording controls.

Texas Department of Insurance, Commercial property insurance guide
Travelers, Fidelity & Crime Insurance
The Hartford, Cyber Crime Insurance
Chubb, The Chubb Primary Commercial Crime Insurance
Illustrative standard form: ISO Commercial Crime Policy (Discovery Form) CR 00 22 06 22 (© Insurance Services Office, Inc., 2021), specimen hosted by AmTrust
Illustrative standard forms: ISO Building and Personal Property Coverage Form CP 00 10 10 12 and Causes of Loss – Special Form CP 10 30 09 17, in a Michigan property forms package hosted by Conifer Insurance

About Melliand Insurance Agency

Melliand Insurance Agency is an independently operated insurance agency affiliated with Premier Group Insurance (PGI), a nationwide agency network.

Questions about crime coverage for your business? Call (972) 346-4666 or email melliandinsurance@gmail.com. Hours are Monday–Friday, 8 AM–5 PM Central. We don’t have a walk-in office. In-person visits are by appointment at your home or business throughout DFW.

This guide is general information, not legal advice or a statement of coverage. Coverage depends on the actual policy, and only the policy terms control.