Serengetiwolf
commented
4 years ago This is another form of false claim fraud, but a highly specific one.
It is surprisingly common for individuals to try to defraud life insurance companies by faking their own deaths. In fact, people try to fake their own deaths so often that one author wrote an entire book of interviews with people who have done so.
When someone plays dead and tries to file an insurance claim it becomes a felony. Often in this scheme their beneficiary will collect the money and share it with the claimant. At least, that’s the idea. The reality is that it’s a lot harder to get away with faking your own death than most people seem to think.
And for those curious, it doesn’t work if you actually kill the person either. If someone’s life insurance beneficiary kills them, the murderer loses all rights to the money.
- Inflation Fraud This type of fraud often seems like nothing. It is the simple act of adding a little to the bill when you file your insurance claim.
Inflation fraud is having the mechanic make upgrades to your car instead of just repairs, then sending your insurance company the entire bill. It’s a doctor charging your health plan for a couple of tests he didn’t really run or which you didn’t need. It’s the slip-and-fall claimant who says that they can’t move their arm… then goes out for a game of tennis the next day.
Sometimes this type of fraud is small-bore. People try to add an extra $100 to their claim and insurance companies generally turn a blind eye. But when someone tries to make a fender-bender into a million dollar liability claim, that’s when they send in their investigators.
- Forgery and Identity Theft Fraud Finally, people sometimes try and file claims under someone else’s insurance. This is particularly common with health insurance. Individuals will get another person’s identifying information and then try to make claims against their insurance.
Sometimes these are illegitimate claims for legitimate treatments, but often this is simply a way to pocket cash. For example, one common scam is for criminals to steal the identities of elderly citizens on Medicare. Then they will order expensive medical equipment using the stolen identity, have it paid for by that person’s insurance, and re-sell the medical equipment for a profit.
- False Police Reports It is important to note that many forms of insurance fraud involve filing a false police report.
Any accident involving a moving vehicle, for example, should involve a report with the local police. The same goes any time you claim that your property was stolen, burned or intentionally damaged. Most insurance policies will require that you submit a copy of the police report along with any relevant claim. For example, if your laptop gets stolen, you will need to report the theft to the local police and get the appropriate paperwork before you can file a claim with your insurance company.
This is a bottleneck for many forms of insurance fraud because filing a false police report is in and of itself a crime. In most, if not all, states it is punishable with jail time. Worse, it gets the police involved with your scam. All of a sudden it isn’t just Allstate (ALL) - Get Report or Geico you have to fool. It’s the cops.
And they take a very dim view of liars.
TAGSINSURANCE BY ERIC REED
hAZZARDS OF SLIP AND FALLS