Latest Fraud Headlines
All the headlines from our Fraud Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Profile: Workers’ Comp Fraud Expert Takes Old School Approach
Dec 12 2012 // When a Southern California family was convicted of workers’ compensation insurance premium fraud, it wasn’t due to sophisticated software, a supercomputer or even high-tech surveillance techniques. It was the...
U.S. SEC Charges N.J.-based Consultant with Fraud in Chinese Reverse Mergers
Dec 12 2012 // U.S. securities regulators charged a New Jersey-based consultant on Tuesday with defrauding investors in the China-based companies he helped make public through a backdoor method known as a “reverse...
Chubb Launches Cyber Endorsement Addressing Bank Account Takeover Frauds
Dec 11 2012 // The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies has launched a new endorsement to help protect community banks from a more than three-fold increase in fraudulent online commercial transactions. The new endorsement to the ForeFront...
Insurance Fraud Allegations Up in Ohio
Dec 11 2012 // Officials say the record number of insurance-fraud allegations in Ohio this year can be partly attributed to better reporting of suspected incidents and difficult economic times that push some people into illegal...
Ohio Launches Online Registry to Cut Scrap Metal Thefts
Dec 10 2012 // Ohio has created an online registry to try to cut down on scrap metal thefts. The online registry of scrap metal and bulk merchandise dealers is part of Ohio’s Homeland Security Website. It’s designed to crack...
Detroit to Lay Off 5% of Workforce; Investigate Insurance, Work Comp Fraud
Dec 10 2012 // Detroit officials say they’re making plans to lay off 400 to 500 city employees in the new year, roughly 5 percent of the workforce. The disclosure was made Dec. 7 as Mayor Dave Bing said he has enough votes in the...
Former Brooke Corp. Execs Again Indicted on Financial Fraud Charges
Dec 7 2012 // Two former executives of the now defunct insurance agency franchising firm, Brooke Corp., have been indicted on federal financial fraud charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas. A federal grand jury...
From Ashes of Penn. Estate Rises a Lawsuit for $20M Insurance Proceeds
Dec 4 2012 // The 53-page document reads more like a screenplay than a lawsuit. If Jerald Batoff’s claim is true, that’s how it may end up. More than seven months after his historic Main Line home, a 24,000-square-foot...
Oklahoma Commissioner: Weapons Necessary for Safety of Anti-Fraud Unit
Dec 4 2012 // Defending his agency’s expenditures on weapons and police vehicles for use by its anti-fraud unit, Oklahoma’s top insurance regulator said the purchases help ensure the safety of investigators and are not paid...
Florida Prison Guard Charged with $2.7 Million Workers’ Comp Fraud
Dec 3 2012 // A former Florida prison guard is free on bond after being charged with faking illness to fraudulently collect more than $2.7 million in workers’ compensation. Authorities said David Brownell was arrested last week in...
Oklahoma Insurance Department Spends $180K on Guns, Police Vehicles
Dec 3 2012 // The Oklahoma Insurance Department spent more than $180,000 on high-tech shotguns, bulletproof vests and seven police-package vehicles that agency officials say were needed as part of its expanded focus on criminal...
Theft and Vandalism Claims Have Carriers on Edge in Vacant Property Segment
Dec 3 2012 // Insurers are restricting the availability of theft and vandalism coverage in the vacant property insurance market, where there is still plenty of available business. Vacant property provided a boost for some insurers...
French Court Clears Continental of Criminal Liability for 2000 Concorde Crash
Nov 30 2012 // Continental Airlines was cleared on Thursday of criminal responsibility for the Concorde crash in Paris in 2000 that killed 113 people, with a French court also absolving a mechanic at the U.S. airline of involuntary...
Munich Re Study Focuses on Rising ‘Cyber Crime’
Nov 29 2012 // “Cyber attacks are a reality and companies need to prepare themselves,” warns Munich Re in a recently released study – “Cost of Cyber Crime” – conducted by the Ponemon Institute....
Appeals Allow Louisiana Cardiologist Convicted of Fraud to Remain Free
Nov 28 2012 // A former Lafayette cardiologist is asking to remain free pending a request that the U.S. Supreme Court hear an appeal of his 2009 health-care fraud conviction and 10-year prison sentence. The Advocate reports Dr. Mehmood...
4 Convicted in California for $154M Medical Insurance Fraud
Nov 28 2012 // Orange County prosecutors say four people have been convicted of crimes relating to a $154 million medical fraud scheme in which hundreds of healthy patients underwent unnecessary surgeries to fraudulently bill insurance...
2 Former Stanford Executives Convicted of Fraud
Nov 21 2012 // Two former associates of R. Allen Stanford have been convicted of fraud for trying to help the imprisoned U.S. financier conceal a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors in Houston say 70-year-old Gilbert Lopez Jr. and...
South Carolina Man Sentenced in Ohio for Workers’ Comp Fraud
Nov 14 2012 // A South Carolina man has been ordered to repay the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) more than $140,000 for holding several jobs and concealing earnings while receiving permanent disability benefits, BWC...
Insurance Commissioner: Auto Theft Declines in Louisiana
Nov 6 2012 // Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon reported that the number of vehicle thefts in Louisiana has declined nearly 42 percent over a five-year period from 2006 through 2011. The latest figures from the FBI Uniform...
Insurance Fraud Specialist Armour Group Concludes UK Sub Deal
Nov 5 2012 // The Bermuda-based Armour Group announced that an affiliate has completed a majority investment in Armour Intelligence Limited, a UK-based service, created by its founder and CEO, former Brigadier David Montgomery, to...
