Insurance Fraud Is No Laughing Matter, Costing Honest New Yorkers Millions

BUT THESE SCHEMES WERE HATCHED BY FOLKS WHO HAD TO BE JOKING, SAYS NEW YORK ALLIANCE AGAINST INSURANCE FRAUD

NYAAIF's Picks for New York's Most Foolish Fraudsters in 2009

ALBANY, N.Y., Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Insurance fraud is an enticing enterprise for criminals throughout New York State, but you've got to wonder just what some of the state's fraudsters were thinking when they cooked up the scams that led to their eventual arrests, according to the New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud (NYAAIF).  

"To paraphrase playwright Oscar Wilde, these defendants could resist everything except temptation," said Ellen Melchionni, NYAAIF's president. "And they should deservedly pay the price."

NYAAIF reviewed reports from the New York State Insurance Department (NYSID) frauds bureau and various published accounts and deemed the following individuals New York's Most Foolish Fraudsters for 2009:

Most Brazen

• DOCTOR'S NOTE CAME FROM THE PATIENT: A 43-year-old Utica man must have heard there was money to be made following an auto accident under New York's no-fault system.  Alas, this Utica resident's decision to accept $2,620 in allegedly fraudulent lost wage benefits resulted in his February 2009 arrest.  "He [the defendant] is also accused of changing the date on the doctor's prescription that allowed him to be out of work so he could continue to receive the [lost wage] benefits for an additional month," NYSID reported.
• FORMER PAINTER'S STRIP CLUB GIG BARED: A 57-year-old Herkimer County man was charged in December 2009 with wrongfully receiving nearly $47,000 in workers' compensation benefits while also working as a disc jockey for a Utica strip club over the past five years.  The case dated back to an accident 23 years ago. "[The defendant]was injured in 1986 while working as a painter for a Central New York cheese company, and he has previously denied in three separate written statements to the State Insurance Fund (SIF) that he had returned to work," a Utica, NY news article on the case quoted officials as saying.  
• BASEMENT MAY HAVE FLOODED BUT CLAIM WAS ALL WET:  No one appears to have disputed the fact that the basement of a 53-year-old man in Apalachin, NY [Tioga County] flooded after his home's washing machine hose broke.  His November 2009 arrest arose out of the $5,300 insurance claim he allegedly filed fraudulently, listing four pieces of property which were supposedly damaged because of this incident.  Three of the four items identified on the claim were neither damaged by the flood nor owned by the defendant, investigators determined.  The fourth, a couch, was not in the basement at the time the washing machine's hose broke, according to NYSID.
• TAKES TWO TO DISMANTLE A PICKUP TRUCK:  A 27-year-old Town of Tonawanda auto mechanic wanted a quick way to rid himself of the monthly loan payments on his 2004 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, and selling the vehicle was one option he seemingly didn't pursue.  Instead, this individual allegedly asked a 32-year-old Town of Tonawanda auto mechanic to dismantle the pickup truck, and sell its parts.  Since the vehicle had somehow 'disappeared,' the 27-year-old then filed a $32,500 fraudulent insurance claim.
• DAMAGE VEHICLE, PURCHASE INSURANCE:  The sequence of events is reversed for most New Yorkers but the 31-year-old Oneonta man arrested in January 2009 on charges of insurance fraud and falsifying business records had his recent past catch up with him pretty quickly.  The defendant was alleged to have purchased auto insurance coverage for a rented 2004 Chevrolet Malibu on Sept. 19, 2008, and then filed a claim totaling $1,280 with that same insurer three days later, "reporting that he struck a deer when driving from the insurance agency," NYSID says.  Neighbors told investigators that damage to the Oneonta man's rented vehicle was readily apparent well before the Sept. 19, 2008 "accident."

Laziest

• 'STOLEN CAR' TURNS UP IN STORAGE FACILITY:  A 33-year-old San Francisco, CA man who used to reside in Orange County, NY was charged with fraudulently collecting $19,000 after reporting his 2002 Acura Integra stolen in July 2004.  The alleged crime would have remained undetected except that the 33-year-old man failed to pay rental charges to the Orange County storage facility owner where the Acura Integra was housed, NYSID reported.  Upon gaining access to the storage unit and seeing the vehicle, the facility's owner contacted the Town of Woodbury's police department, which traced the Acura Integra back to the defendant.
• SUPPOSED DISABLED WOMAN HAD REASON TO BE A HAPPY CAMPER:  A 56-year-old Ulster County woman suffered injuries which left her 'totally disabled' and forced her to leave her teaching position in the Kingston, NY school district in 2005, according to the NYSID.  However, this same individual was arrested in October 2009 "for accepting $73,000 in workers' compensation benefits while she worked at a youth sports camp."  The benefits she allegedly received under false pretenses were paid through Ulster County, whose self-insured workers' compensation plan covers Kingston School District employees.

Most Heartless

• SON COULDN'T BRING HIMSELF TO REPORT MOM'S DEATH:  There was a reason the 34-year-old Rochester man didn't want to share this sad news with the State Insurance Fund (SIF).  His mother, who died in April 2007, was collecting workers' compensation benefits through SIF, and investigators allege that the son fraudulently collected and cashed checks made payable to his late mother between April 2007 and August 2008.  The man was consequently arrested on grand larceny charges.
• MOM'S WORKERS' COMPENSATION CHECKS LIVE ON:  A 31-year-old West Seneca, NY woman saw no reason she couldn't endorse and cash four checks totaling $1,600 that were mailed to her mother, according to NYSID. The problem with this line of thinking: her mother died in February 2009, and all of those workers' compensation checks in question arrived after that date and were intended for her late mother, NYSID reported, soon after the daughter's arrest.
• POWER OF ATTORNEY FALLS INTO WRONG HANDS:  A 53-year-old Niverville, NY [Columbia County] woman was arrested in June 2009 for cashing $5,599 in disability checks mailed to her sister who died more than two years ago, the NYSID reported.  The defendant was able to get away with the scheme, which involved not reporting her late sister's death to the disability insurer, for a while because the 53-year-old woman was her sister's caregiver and had power of attorney.

NYAAIF is a cooperative effort by insurance companies in New York to educate consumers about the costs of insurance fraud, the many forms fraud can take and what you can do to help fight back. Visit www.fraudny.org for more information on NYAAIF and what you can do to help fight insurance fraud. Individuals can also call 1-888-FRAUD NY to anonymously report suspected cases of fraud.

SOURCE New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud