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High-Tech Fraud 

Dennis loved computers. He spoke their language fluently. He could  converse as easily in Windows, Basic, COBOL, FORTRAN, machine language,  UNIX and Linux as English. Basic and DOS were child\\u2019s play to Dennis.  Computers were his life. Whenever Intel marketed a new chip, Dennis was  first in line to buy faster and more complex computers for his personal  use.  Dennis could never afford every computer he wanted to buy. As a  programmer for WYSIWYG Enterprises he earned only $60,000 a year. He  lived near his work in San Jose. Dennis took the bus from his third  floor walk-up apartment to his office. When he wasn\\u2019t working, he was  modifying and upgrading his personal computers and editing software for  his personal use. 

 Dennis loved working on his HP desktop running Windows 10 and UNIX. He  had available for use a 1200 x 2400-dpi color scanner, a full color  laser printer that printed at 1200 DPI and a 60 inch flat screen  monitor. On the appropriate paper the printer produced photographic  quality images.  \\u201cDennis,\\u201d Alain exclaimed, \\u201cthese are valuable antiques (not to mention  your computer systems). How can you live in that miserable, cheap  apartment without renters\\u2019 insurance to protect you against burglary?\\u201d \\u201c  

Dennis took his photographs, which clearly fooled his computer-wise  friend Alain and which he was certain would fool any fine arts  appraiser, and opened the Yellow Pages under \\u201cA\\u201d for \\u201cAppraisers.\\u201d He  found a listing of thirty five different names of fine arts and antique  appraisers.  Since Dennis never owned any of the items of value depicted in the  photographs, he was curious to see the true value of the items his  photographs seemed to prove were in his house. He took the photographs  to the first appraiser he found in the telephone book. 

That appraiser,  Albert Aisensohn, was the owner of Antique Universe, a retail  establishment selling antiques, used furniture and old estate jewelry.  Aisensohn took the photographs and said, \\u201cI can\\u2019t give you an appraisal  from just photographs \\u2014 when can I see the merchandise?\\u201d  When Dennis pulled out the five one hundred dollar bills he had in his  wallet Aisensohn immediately sat at an old Underwood upright typewriter  and began to type out an appraisal of the value of the various items  depicted in the photographs Dennis provided to him. He made no comment,  just silently put the bills in his pocket.  Because he only had photographs, Aisensohn estimated age, quality of  craftsmanship and value. The appraiser, more often than not, could only  provide a range of values such as: Chippendale chair, circa 1890,  excellent physical condition, carved from mahogany and covered in a silk  Jacquard print, valued between $30,000 and $40,000.

Dennis lived happily ever after, occasionally creating new photographs as the computer industry created new toys.  (c) 2022 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.  Subscribe to Zalma on Insurance at locals.com https://zalmaoninsurance.local.com/subscribe.  Subscribe to Excellence in Claims Handling at https://barryzalma.substack.com/welcome.