Insurance fraud claims have been rising, and it seems consumer’s tolerance to the wrongdoing has risen also. The 2010 statistics show that the fraud claims totaled 80 billion dollars last year. It has been referred to as a white collar crime, and many people consider it a “victimless” crime.
Why would someone file a bogus insurance claim? In the case of a Connecticut man, it seems he committed the crime out of spite. The 62 year old man was a former advertising executive and was being divorced by his wife of thirteen years, a medical malpractice attorney. They had a beach house and a home in South Windsor; apparently, the wife was to get the beach house, but he had other plans.
He burned down the beach home; arson. Then he decided to sue the insurance company for not doing a proper investigation, before of course, he learned that he was the prime suspect. In this case, no one was injured. However, consumers will end up paying for this in the long run.
In 2003 a man drowned his three year old step daughter just a few months after marrying her mother. He had taken out a 200 thousand dollar life insurance policy on the little girl. He got 50 years for the murder. Another man set up a fake insurance agency and sold people worthless health insurance. He had around 12 thousand customers in different states and had gotten 14 million dollars off the fake policies; thousands of people with medical debts, and no insurance to cover them.
Arson, slip-and-fall, burglar injured and decides to sue. The list is overwhelming. Insurance fraud hardly seems victimless; people are injured or killed in the process of the crime, and the legitimate consumer pays the price.
