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True Crime of Insurance Fraud Number 33  

Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE presents videos so you can learn how insurance  fraud is perpetrated and what is necessary to deter or defeat insurance  fraud. This Video Blog of True Crime Stories of Insurance Fraud with the  names and places changed to protect the guilty are all based upon  investigations conducted by me and fictionalized to create a learning  environment for claims personnel, SIU investigators, insurers, police,  and lawyers better understand insurance fraud and weapons that can be  used to deter or defeat a fraudulent insurance claim.  An Evil Insured  The Sleaze was not a nice man. He learned the safe way to steal in  prison. A Superior Court Judge had sentenced him to two years in state  prison for forging his mother\\u2019s will.  His cell mate, an armed robber bragged about his successful brother. The  brother had found a new career claiming the theft of small pieces of  jewelry on homeowners\\u2019 policies. Insurance companies always paid,  whether he owned the jewelry or not, rather than fight. His cell mate  explained how prosecutors had no interest in this type of crime.  Insurance companies, fearing punitive damages verdicts would pay even  when the claim was fraudulent.  The Sleaze vowed that when he got out of prison he would pursue this  safe form of crime.  The Sleaze was a man of his word. Immediately after leaving prison he  bought a tenant\\u2019s homeowners policy. He asked for, and received without  question, a $10,000 jewelry extension from the company. His limit of  liability, instead of the standard $1,000, was $10,000.  Within a month of buying the policy, he reported the probable theft of a  $10,000 ring. He told the adjuster that he was at the Beverly Wilshire  Hotel meeting with a business associate. He removed his ring to wash his  hands in the men\\u2019s room. He forgot to replace his ring, returned to his  lunch and realized the ring was missing about the time he finished  lunch. He immediately went back to the restroom but found the ring  missing. He reported the possible theft to the men\\u2019s room attendant and  to the hotel security office. He told the adjuster that the ring was a  family heirloom given to him by his father a week before he died. He had  no appraisals or receipts. He had nothing in writing that proved he  owned the ring. He had no photographs showing him wearing the ring. He  was willing, however, to swear that he owned the ring and that it was  probably stolen from the restroom at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.  The Sleaze would not let the matter rest. He filed suit in Superior  Court naming counsel and the insurance company for fraud in the taking  of his automobile. The insurance company had to retain new counsel to  defend its attorney and itself to this new lawsuit. When that suit was  unsuccessful the Sleaze filed small claims court actions alleging fraud  and hoping that the insurer or its attorney would fail to appear. When  counsel appeared at the small claims court action, the Sleaze, who was  present, faked an illness and begged for a continuance. When this was  unsuccessful, judgment was entered on the small claims court action for  the insurance company and its counsel.  On the surface, the Sleaze was unsuccessful in his fraudulent claims  against the insurance company. He was successful in committing fraud. He  was successful in raising the reasonable costs of defending fraudulent  insurance claims beyond logic. He placed a lawyer in fear of her life  and cost her law firm and the insurer she represented the cost of a body  guard. Anyone who believes that insurance fraud is not a violent crime  never met the Sleaze.  \\xa9 2022 \\u2013 Barry Zalma