Last month I wrote an article on three examples of what you shouldn’t do with a life insurance policy: commit fraud. It’s incredibly important to remember that life insurance policies are taken very seriously, and if you are found to be “tricking the system” in any way, that can and will most likely end in a heavy fine or even jail time. But, as I’ve also mentioned in other blogs, there are different types of insurance available. And policyholders of all kinds will look for ways to commit fraud. In order to truly illustrate the point, here are three more cautionary tales.
The Slip-and-Fall
It’s quite possibly the oldest trick in the book, but you’d be surprised how often it works. Someone will pretend to fall and injure himself on company property and then demand that the company pay for pain and suffering. One woman in particular is incredibly skilled in playing the system: Isabel Parker. Parker has reportedly tried the slip-and-fall in at least 49 stores for a total of $500,000 in claims. She was eventually caught and originally sentenced to 29 months in prison before being placed on probation.
The Unexpected Ingredient
This is another popular story you hear in the tabloids all the time: someone goes to eat out at their favorite restaurant and they are greeted by a mouse in their food. The victim then gets an insurance settlement for thousands of dollars. This is precisely what happened to Carla Patterson when she visited a Virginia Cracker Barrel, or, at least it would have, if she hadn’t been lying. Ms. Patterson assumed that the Cracker Barrel would quickly pay her in order to avoid bad publicity, but she was unaware that restaurants take these claims very seriously and perform in-depth investigations. After an investigation into the matter, Cracker Barrel realized that the mouse couldn’t have been served in her food, as it had no soup in its lungs, nor was it cooked. As a result, Patterson was sentenced to one year in prison.
Two Frauds for the Price of None
Sometimes scammers get a bit carried away with their lies. This was the case for Nicholas Di Puma, who decided to set fire to not only his house, but his car as well in the hopes to collect both home and car insurance payments. The authorities didn’t buy his story and he was sentenced to five years of probation.
