One of the greatest challenges insurance companies face is the ferreting out of insurance fraud. Wherever there is a chance that someone can get paid for submitting a fraudulent claim, there are also stupid people who are willing to give it a try.
Here are some recent examples:
1. The Charging Bull
NEW HAVEN, CT: Connecticut state investigators say have charged Garrett Dalton with felony fraud after he was spotted running a 40-yard dash in a race sponsored by a local radio station. Dalton was collecting worker’s compensation from alleged injuries sustained as a prison guard...otherwise known as a “bull.” Dalton entered a not-guilty plea.
2. Mr. Motion pleads guilty to faking injury
PENNSYLVANIA: The state Attorney General said that Michael Taris tried to make a claim for injuries from a slip and fall in a Seven Eleven store. But then investigators found out that Taris is a professional wrestler with the name “Mr. Motion,” and is trained to fake falls and injuries. Taris pleaded guilty and got three years probation.
3. Didn’t you think someone would notice her missing?
CHICAGO, IL: Donald Brewer was charged with first degree murder in the death of Kenyatae Brewer, 22, his wife and the mother of three kids to collect on her life insurance policy. Mrs. Brewer was found slain in the trunk of her Chevy Monte Carlo, shot multiple times.
She was not available for comment. Mr. Brewer may be unavailable for comment for 40-60 years.
Insurance fraud is serious business, since claims paid on fraudulent claims cost ALL of us higher premiums. It’s no different than shoplifting at a retailer. Stores simply add the cost of their “shrinkage” to the cost of the goods you and I pay for.
Report any suspected insurance fraud to the police. And know that most of the time, criminals get caught.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Insurance Fraud: The Dumb Criminal Chronicles III
One of the greatest challenges insurance companies face is the ferreting out of insurance fraud. Wherever there is a chance that someone can get paid for submitting a fraudulent claim, there are also stupid people who are willing to give it a try.
Here are some recent examples:
1. Cops should know better.
COLUMBIA, KY: Donnie and Tina Richmond have been arrested and charged with arson and perjury in the case of insurance fraud on a house they owned. Donnie is a Kentucky State Trooper...or should I say...was a Trooper. They have been indicted and will be tried for the fire that occurred in October 2009.
2. Sharing the wealth doesn’t pay.
Investigators at the Georgia Department of Insurance have arrested the man they allege was the “ringleader” in a fraudulent auto accident scheme that collected over $95,000 from various insurers.
Joseph Morris of Savannah was charged with three counts of insurance fraud. Each count could get Morris ten years in prison.
Morris filed 16 claims involving vehicles he either owned or previously owned, or claims involving people who were associates.
3. If you can skydive, maybe you’re OK.
HUDSON FALLS, NY: Jacob Bancroft, a press operator, claimed a back injury which allowed him to collect insurance benefits for about 18 months until he was discovered skydiving. He also did hot air ballooning, hiking, firefighting and heavy construction. His downfall was when he posted his activities on Facebook.
The video is at: ABC Insurance Fraud Video Clip
Insurance fraud is serious business, since claims paid on fraudulent claims cost ALL of us higher premiums. It’s no different than shoplifting at a retailer. Stores simply add the cost of their “shrinkage” to the cost of the goods you and I pay for.
Report any suspected insurance fraud to the police. And know that most of the time, criminals get caught.
Here are some recent examples:
1. Cops should know better.
COLUMBIA, KY: Donnie and Tina Richmond have been arrested and charged with arson and perjury in the case of insurance fraud on a house they owned. Donnie is a Kentucky State Trooper...or should I say...was a Trooper. They have been indicted and will be tried for the fire that occurred in October 2009.
2. Sharing the wealth doesn’t pay.
Investigators at the Georgia Department of Insurance have arrested the man they allege was the “ringleader” in a fraudulent auto accident scheme that collected over $95,000 from various insurers.
Joseph Morris of Savannah was charged with three counts of insurance fraud. Each count could get Morris ten years in prison.
Morris filed 16 claims involving vehicles he either owned or previously owned, or claims involving people who were associates.
3. If you can skydive, maybe you’re OK.
HUDSON FALLS, NY: Jacob Bancroft, a press operator, claimed a back injury which allowed him to collect insurance benefits for about 18 months until he was discovered skydiving. He also did hot air ballooning, hiking, firefighting and heavy construction. His downfall was when he posted his activities on Facebook.
The video is at: ABC Insurance Fraud Video Clip
Insurance fraud is serious business, since claims paid on fraudulent claims cost ALL of us higher premiums. It’s no different than shoplifting at a retailer. Stores simply add the cost of their “shrinkage” to the cost of the goods you and I pay for.
Report any suspected insurance fraud to the police. And know that most of the time, criminals get caught.
Insurance Fraud: The Dumb Criminal Chronicles II
One of the greatest challenges insurance companies face is the ferreting out of insurance fraud. Wherever there is a chance that someone can get paid for submitting a fraudulent claim, there are also stupid people who are willing to give it a try.
Here are some recent examples:
1. Fire, Brimstone and the evil Church Music Director
KANSAS CITY,KANSAS: A church music director hatched an elaborate plan to torch the church where he worked.
Carva Lee White of Kansas City, Missouri, planned to convince the pastor to make an insurance claim, collect the money and then help White inflate repair bills and embezzle money from Church Mutual Insurance Company.
White actually set the fires inside the church on Halloween, 2008. The church, Missionary Baptist Church, received over $110,000 for the fire repairs. White is serving a 20-40 year sentence.
2. Conniving Contractor Bribes an Adjuster
SEATTLE,WA: Federal prosecutors filed fraud charges against Donald Chill, a disaster contractor, alleging insurance fraud of over $3.2 million.
Seems Chill bribed an adjuster to submit wildly inflated estimates for damages that Chill collected from Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance.
When challenged on prices, Chill created second estimates from nonexistent contractors and submitted them as “proof.”
The trail has not yet been completed.
3. With friends like this....
GARNER, NC: Kimberly J. Smithson was charged with larceny, breaking and entering, filing a false report and insurance fraud. Smithson stole jewelry worth over $14,000 from the home of a friend whose house she was watching. She also submitted a false claim to Assurant Insurance for electronics that she was paid for. Finally, she was found to have collected on a fire set at her home, which paid her over $9,000 for damages.
She awaits trial.
Insurance fraud is serious business, since claims paid on fraudulent claims cost ALL of us higher premiums. It’s no different than shoplifting at a retailer. Stores simply add the cost of their “shrinkage” to the cost of the goods you and I pay for.
Report any suspected insurance fraud to the police. And know that most of the time, criminals get caught.
Here are some recent examples:
1. Fire, Brimstone and the evil Church Music Director
KANSAS CITY,KANSAS: A church music director hatched an elaborate plan to torch the church where he worked.
Carva Lee White of Kansas City, Missouri, planned to convince the pastor to make an insurance claim, collect the money and then help White inflate repair bills and embezzle money from Church Mutual Insurance Company.
White actually set the fires inside the church on Halloween, 2008. The church, Missionary Baptist Church, received over $110,000 for the fire repairs. White is serving a 20-40 year sentence.
2. Conniving Contractor Bribes an Adjuster
SEATTLE,WA: Federal prosecutors filed fraud charges against Donald Chill, a disaster contractor, alleging insurance fraud of over $3.2 million.
Seems Chill bribed an adjuster to submit wildly inflated estimates for damages that Chill collected from Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance.
When challenged on prices, Chill created second estimates from nonexistent contractors and submitted them as “proof.”
The trail has not yet been completed.
3. With friends like this....
GARNER, NC: Kimberly J. Smithson was charged with larceny, breaking and entering, filing a false report and insurance fraud. Smithson stole jewelry worth over $14,000 from the home of a friend whose house she was watching. She also submitted a false claim to Assurant Insurance for electronics that she was paid for. Finally, she was found to have collected on a fire set at her home, which paid her over $9,000 for damages.
She awaits trial.
Insurance fraud is serious business, since claims paid on fraudulent claims cost ALL of us higher premiums. It’s no different than shoplifting at a retailer. Stores simply add the cost of their “shrinkage” to the cost of the goods you and I pay for.
Report any suspected insurance fraud to the police. And know that most of the time, criminals get caught.
Insurance Fraud: The Dumb Criminal Chronicles
One of the greatest challenges insurance companies face is the ferreting out of insurance fraud. Wherever there is a chance that someone can get paid for submitting a fraudulent claim, there are also stupid people who are willing to give it a try.
Here are some recent examples:
1. Arson (I like this story because of the restaurant’s name.)
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FL: Two men were arrested and charged with insurance fraud after a 2008 fire at Wakey, Wakey Eggs & Bakey.
The fire was set in the kitchen after the restaurant closed on May 5, 2008, and caused over $200,000 in damages.
One of the owners, Victor H. Jara, was arrested and charged with arson and filing false insurance claims. Matthew Thayer, a contractor, was also arrested on the same charge.
The building’s owners had just evicted the restaurant owners for defaulting on the rent.
2. Dumb Insurance Adjusters...there are a bunch of them.
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND: A Maryland woman pleaded guilty to writing company checks to herself and depositing the money into her own checking accounts while she was an insurance claims adjuster.
Shironda Jones pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft over $500. She was sentenced and ordered to pay back over $16,000 she had stolen from Nationwide Insurance Company between September 2006 and September 2007.
3. Hometown Insurance Fraud...I missed out on all the fun.
KENT COUNTY, MICHIGAN: Grand Rapids, Michigan is known as the Furniture City, and is getting a reputation as a hub for medical research. But now it’s become the Michigan Mecca for insurance fraud.
Three of the top Five insurance fraud cases in Michigan in 2009 were committed in Kent County.
The top case was Dr. Robert Stokes, a dermatologist who bilked Medicare and other health insurers for over $2 million. He is in prison serving a 10-year sentence for double billing and charge for work he did not perform.
Stokes’ Tudor mansion on Reeds Lake, which he tried to sell for $7.7 million, was recently auctioned off by the bank for $1.75 million.
Next case involved James Westra, age 80, who paid a former employee to torch his business so he could collect over $300,000.
Third is Isaac Chandler, of Alpine Township, who was sentenced in Augustto at least six years in prison for selling $40 counterfeit insurance policies to almost 500 people.
Insurance fraud is serious business, since claims paid on fraudulent claims cost ALL of us higher premiums. It’s no different than shoplifting at a retailer. Stores simply add the cost of their “shrinkage” to the cost of the goods you and I pay for.
Report any suspected insurance fraud to the police. And know that most of the time, criminals get caught.
Here are some recent examples:
1. Arson (I like this story because of the restaurant’s name.)
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, FL: Two men were arrested and charged with insurance fraud after a 2008 fire at Wakey, Wakey Eggs & Bakey.
The fire was set in the kitchen after the restaurant closed on May 5, 2008, and caused over $200,000 in damages.
One of the owners, Victor H. Jara, was arrested and charged with arson and filing false insurance claims. Matthew Thayer, a contractor, was also arrested on the same charge.
The building’s owners had just evicted the restaurant owners for defaulting on the rent.
2. Dumb Insurance Adjusters...there are a bunch of them.
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND: A Maryland woman pleaded guilty to writing company checks to herself and depositing the money into her own checking accounts while she was an insurance claims adjuster.
Shironda Jones pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft over $500. She was sentenced and ordered to pay back over $16,000 she had stolen from Nationwide Insurance Company between September 2006 and September 2007.
3. Hometown Insurance Fraud...I missed out on all the fun.
KENT COUNTY, MICHIGAN: Grand Rapids, Michigan is known as the Furniture City, and is getting a reputation as a hub for medical research. But now it’s become the Michigan Mecca for insurance fraud.
Three of the top Five insurance fraud cases in Michigan in 2009 were committed in Kent County.
The top case was Dr. Robert Stokes, a dermatologist who bilked Medicare and other health insurers for over $2 million. He is in prison serving a 10-year sentence for double billing and charge for work he did not perform.
Stokes’ Tudor mansion on Reeds Lake, which he tried to sell for $7.7 million, was recently auctioned off by the bank for $1.75 million.
Next case involved James Westra, age 80, who paid a former employee to torch his business so he could collect over $300,000.
Third is Isaac Chandler, of Alpine Township, who was sentenced in Augustto at least six years in prison for selling $40 counterfeit insurance policies to almost 500 people.
Insurance fraud is serious business, since claims paid on fraudulent claims cost ALL of us higher premiums. It’s no different than shoplifting at a retailer. Stores simply add the cost of their “shrinkage” to the cost of the goods you and I pay for.
Report any suspected insurance fraud to the police. And know that most of the time, criminals get caught.
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