Latest Fraud Headlines
All the headlines from our Fraud Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Auto Insurance Fraud: Is There a Solution?
Aug 5 2013 // Industry estimates put personal auto insurance fraud at about 10 percent of paid losses and loss adjustment expenses a year. That equates to roughly $13.3 billion in 2011 alone. And the overall trends don’t appear...
Texas Business Indicted on Workers’ Comp Fraud Charges
Aug 2 2013 // A Travis County, Texas grand jury has indicted Mark Edward Helm and McClanahan Drywall Inc., of Emory, Texas, on workers’ compensation fraud-related charges. Helm was an officer of McClanahan Drywall Inc. and...
Northwestern Settles Cancer Research Whistleblower Fraud Claim
Aug 1 2013 // Federal prosecutors in Chicago have announced Northwestern University has agreed to pay nearly $3 million to settle a whistleblower’s lawsuit involving alleged cancer research fraud. The lawsuit claimed the...
Ex-Insurance Agent From Iowa Indicted On Mail Fraud Counts
Aug 1 2013 // A former Marshalltown, Iowa insurance agent has been indicted on federal mail fraud charges after being accused of defrauding customers for nearly a decade. The Marshalltown Times-Republican reported that 65-year-old...
N.J. Offers Tips to Assist Consumers Who Purchase Auto Insurance Online
Jul 31 2013 // New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Commissioner Ken Kobylowski is offering tips to shoppers to help them make educated choices and avoid scams when purchasing auto insurance online. Commissioner Kobylowski said...
Gregory to Lead Ohio BWC’s Fraud Investigations Department
Jul 30 2013 // Rick Gregory has been selected as director of the Special Investigations Department (SID) at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC). Gregory will oversee 123 employees who work to deter, detect, investigate...
True-Crime Writer Ann Rule Sues Washington Newspaper
Jul 25 2013 // True-crime author Ann Rule is suing a weekly Seattle newspaper, saying she was defamed in 2011 when the fiance of a convicted killer wrote a lengthy article accusing her of “sloppy storytelling.” The lawsuit,...
Cruise Lines Agree to Post Ship Crime Statistics
Jul 25 2013 // Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., the target of proposed legislation after high profile mishaps at sea, will voluntarily publish more data about crimes on their cruises. Adam...
Maryland Insurance Administration Issues First-Ever Civil Fraud Orders
Jul 24 2013 // The Maryland Insurance Administration on Tuesday issued its first administrative orders under newly granted authority to pursue civil cases of insurance fraud. The authority took effect last October following passage of...
One-Third Fail to Activate Theft Prevention Measures on Their Homes
Jul 24 2013 // Almost of a third of American homeowners who have anti-theft devices on their homes don’t use them — even during the summer when burglars are at their busiest. A survey commissioned by Nationwide Insurance found...
6 Plead Guilty in Louisiana Auto Accident Insurance Fraud Scheme
Jul 23 2013 // Six defendants in a case involving an automobile accident insurance fraud scheme in Louisiana have pleaded guilty, U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced. The pleas were heard by U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks,...
Federal Jury Convicts Former Texas Insurance Agent in Fraud Case
Jul 23 2013 // A former Denton County, Texas, insurance agent has been convicted in an insurance fraud scheme that targeted elderly individuals, U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldana of the Northern District of Texas announced. A federal jury...
NICB Report Ranks Vehicle Theft Rates in Northeast
Jul 22 2013 // The National Insurance Crime Bureau recently released its annual report on a per capita review of vehicle thefts from the nation’s Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA). The report, based on 2012 data, shows that...
2 Dallas Residents Guilty of Medical-Related Fraud
Jul 18 2013 // Two Dallas residents have pleaded guilty to medical investment-related fraud in what investigators call a $10 million Ponzi scam. Federal prosecutors in Dallas last week announced guilty pleas from 50-year-old Duncan...
BP Sets up Anti-Fraud Hotline for Spill Claims
Jul 17 2013 // BP has set up a hotline for people to report alleged fraud involving claims arising from the company’s massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The July 15 launch of the hotline comes a week after a federal...
New Jersey Man Admits to Running Vehicle Theft Ring
Jul 16 2013 // A New Jersey man has admitted to supervising an auto theft ring that authorities say stole over 100 vehicles worth a total of more than $550,000. The Attorney General’s office says 33-year-old Jose D. Lopez of South...
Former Oklahoma Insurance Agent Sentenced for Wire Fraud
Jul 16 2013 // A former Bixby, Okla., insurance agent has been sentenced to ten months home confinement after pleading guilty to wire fraud that allowed him to illegally take commissions earned by other insurance agents, the Oklahoma...
Fraud Fear Raised In California’s Health Exchange
Jul 15 2013 // Consumer groups are worried that California’s uninsured could fall victim to fraud, identity theft or other crimes by some of the very people who are supposed to help them. More than 21,000 enrollment counselors will...
Missouri State Univ. Receives $1M Insurance Check from Theft
Jul 15 2013 // Missouri State University has recouped most of the nearly $1.2 million that was stolen from its bookstore. The Springfield News-Leader reports that the school has received a $1 million insurance check. University President...
Former Idaho Councilman Waives Preliminary in Insurance Fraud
Jul 11 2013 // A former councilman for the eastern Idaho city of Rigby has waived his preliminary hearing on felony charges of insurance fraud and grand theft. Prosecutors say Lawrence Blackburn wrongly took money from the estate of...
