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How a Thorough Fraud Investigation Dealt With False Charges of Fraud  

https://zalma.com/blog.

Being a good neighbor is hard work. Sometimes it\\u2019s impossible. Marsha  was not a good neighbor. She would \\u201cborrow\\u201d things from her neighbors  and never return them. Most of her small kitchen appliances arrived  because of such loans. Marsha had an extensive collection of CDs and  long-playing records, none of which she purchased. Marsha would invite  herself to lunch, but never invite her neighbors to her home for lunch.

The entire neighborhood universally detested Marsha and Jaws. If Marsha  ever decided to move, the neighbors would throw a going away party to  which they would not invite her. Everyone in the neighborhood was afraid  of Marsha and Jaws. They tolerated her because they did not know how to  remove her from the neighborhood.  Marsha\\u2019s neighbors had other plans. Harry and Louise, who lived next  door, looked up the address of the insurance company in their telephone  book. They then sat at an old Underwood manual typewriter and wrote a  letter to the insurance company that said:  \\u201cWe are neighbors of Marsha, the person you insure. We know she has  reported a burglary at her house to the police and is making claim for  losses due to that burglary.  \\u201cThe claim is a fraud. Marsha\\u2019s house was not burglarized. She did not  have the items she is claiming stolen.  Marsha, totally innocent and the victim of a crime, was dumbfounded. Her  insurance company would not pay her claim and insisted on interrogating  her endlessly in front of a court reporter. She could not understand  the reasons for the interrogation. She explained to the lawyer for the  insurance company why her claim was valid.

Although SIU investigators are charged with conducting a thorough  investigation to defeat insurance fraud, it is also their obligation to  establish that an honest claim must be paid. I have personally taken  hundreds of examinations under oath at the request of insurers and  found, as a result, that a great majority of those claims - like  Marsha\'s - was determined to be a claim that needed to be paid. Insurers  should never accept a charge of fraud without corroborating evidence. 

 (c) 2022 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.