My Insurance Insider and Finance Blog

Image via WikipediaBeing an insurance guy,I am actively connected with insurance claims and in my career I have been come into contact with several insurance fraud of various forms. Recently I’ve come to know that the detectives in Florida are trying to track down a man who, according to them, has been issuing fake insurance policies since 2005.

Willis Bowick, President and CEO of the Sun Coast African American Chamber of Commerce is one of the victim of the fraud I am talking about. His name is Willie Coachman Senior.

Misleading by the tricks applied by this auto fraud, the victim Bowick insured his two cars for a six months period with premiums of $ 100 each.

Mr.Bowick had sensed the fraud when the Department of Motor Vehicles contacted him and told that his license was suspended because he didn’t have insurance. Investigators from Florida’s Department of Financial Services Division of Insurance Fraud say that the insurance scam works this way.

Bowick’s bogus policy is actually leading him to shell out more cash for real insurance. Its a real hassle. Anyone could fall in their trap. Meanwhile if you’ve seen Willie Coachman Senior, call the Department of Financial Services Division of Insurance Fraud at 813-972-8602 or call your local law enforcement agency right away.

In an another similar case two elderly women befriended two transient men, took out large insurance policies on their lives, then drugged them and ran them over to make it look as if the men had been killed in hit-and-run accidents, as reported to Los Angeles court.

The two women, Helen Golay, 77 and Rutterschmidt, 75 could be prosecuted for the two counts of murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder for financial gain in the deaths of 73-year-old Paul Vados in 1999 and 51-year-old Kenneth McDavid in 2005. The two elderly women who cashed in a huge several million dollars in claim settlement were videotaped in FBI custody.

Looking into the increasing number of insurance fraud and scams, the House and Senate(Iowa) unanimously approved a bill that will help prevent senior citizens from being caught up in life insurance policy scams.

Being stranger-originated life insurance policies, these scam dealers are targeting people with a high risk of dying in the near future.

“The first version of this had to do with the sale of life insurance policies to a third party when terminal illness was involved,” said Iowa Insurance Division spokesman Tom Alger. “With the life settlement, it referred to that same kind of sale of policy without having a terminal illness involved.”

STOLI involves a person without a vested interest in a person’s life insurance policy. One should always have vested interest or insurable interest in that person’s life. In these scripts, strangers offer to lend money to senior citizens against life insurance policies, with the understanding that the elderly would have to pay back the money owed or sell back the policy.

“The sooner passes away, the more money they get from the life insurance policy,”said Phil Wise, the floor manager of the legislative bill in the House.

“From the insurance commission’s point of view and the point of view developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, they wanted to be as firm as possible on this,” Alger said.

Well, these type frauds and scams are just the tip of iceberg. Fraud and scam artists are everywhere.What we should or should not do, being the need of the hour is taking a little bit of carefulness and just steps during purchasing insurance policies.

Some vital steps that always ought to be taken are-

1. Purchase insurance products from a certified and authorized agent/broker;

2. Get agent’s contact numbers/address on a priority basis;

3.Verify their identities from the insurers/insurance companies concerned;

4.Sign up any document after going through it thoroughly;

5. Pay the premiums by account payee checks only;

6.Get the authentic and valid money receipts from them;

7. Get only the stamped and signed policy of the licensed insurers;

I think those steps listed above could serve you good enough as a checklist at time of purchase of insurance policy.Should you have any question in your mind, please send me a message. I’ll keep in touch with you.