Latest Fraud Headlines
All the headlines from our Fraud Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Mississippi Katrina Report: No Insurer Fraud Pattern
Nov 3 2008 // State Farm Fire & Casualty Cos. made questionable decisions in handling Hurricane Katrina claims, but a nearly two-year study found no pattern of fraud in Mississippi, according to a state agency report released Oct....
UK’s Chartered Insurance Institute Launches Anti-Fraud Podcasts
Nov 3 2008 // The UK’s Chartered Insurance Institute (CII Faculties) has announced a series of podcasts, in conjunction with the UK’s Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), to advise its claims, underwriting and broking members on...
New York Man Faces Insurance Fraud Charges for Suspicious Fire
Nov 3 2008 // An Albany, New York property owner who reportedly fell behind on the mortgage payments for a four-unit apartment building he owns in was arrested for setting fire to the structure just hours after his tenants left the...
Kentucky Weathering AIG and Ike Hurricanes
Nov 2 2008 // Sharon P. Clark, a 17-year veteran of Kentucky state government, was appointed commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Insurance (DOI) in June. Clark’s experience includes five years as director of the Consumer...
Florida Insurance Fraud Case Lands Attorney in Prison
Oct 30 2008 // A South Florida attorney has been disbarred and ordered to surrender on Nov. 7 to serve 366 days in a Florida prison, according to Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink. Broward County Circuit Judge Pedro Dijols...
New York Hotel Worker Charged with Workers Compensation Fraud
Oct 28 2008 // A 49-year-old Nassau County, New York woman has been arrested on charges of fraudulently collecting $20,000 in workers’ compensation benefits, the New York State Insurance Department reported. Maria Escobar, of...
Montana Sheriff Candidate Faces Fraud Charge
Oct 28 2008 // Criminal charges have been filed in the Second Judicial District Court in Butte, Mont., alleging Ben Thielen committed theft by insurance fraud. The charges were filed by Special Deputy County Attorney for Butte-Silver...
Texas EMT Sentenced in Workers’ Comp Fraud Case
Oct 27 2008 // Texas Mutual Insurance Company reported that a Travis County district court sentenced Michael J. Rosenberg of McAllen, Texas, on workers’ compensation fraud-related charges. Rosenberg’s sentence included two...
California Commissioner Announces 5% Workers’ Comp Rate Increase
Oct 24 2008 // Rejecting the Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau’s (WCIRB) call for a 16 percent increase in the benchmark for determining workers’ compensation costs, California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner...
Jury Seated in Pennsylvania Judge’s Fraud Trial
Oct 23 2008 // Six men and six women have been selected as jurors in the federal fraud trial of a retired Pennsylvania appellate judge in Pittsburgh and opening statements are expected to begin. Ex-Superior Court Judge Michael Joyce is...
Jury Picks, Opening on Tap in Fraud Trial of Former Pennsylvania Judge
Oct 22 2008 // Jury selection is expected to wrap up in the federal fraud trial of a retired Pennsylvania appellate judge in Pittsburgh. Retired Superior Court Judge Michael Joyce is charged with mail fraud and money laundering because...
U.S., New York Officials Probe Credit Default Swap Market
Oct 21 2008 // Federal and New York state prosecutors have launched an investigation of the credit default swap market, inquiring whether speculators had manipulated CDS transaction data to put more pressure on the shares of banks...
Arizona Hosts Insurance Fraud Summit
Oct 21 2008 // The price tag of fraudulent property and casualty insurance claims nationally is about 10 percent of insured losses,” said Ron Williams, executive director of the Arizona Insurance Council. That was one figure that...
Insurance Fraud Case Set for Ex-Pennsylvania Judge
Oct 20 2008 // After a fender-bender in 2001, a Pennsylvania appellate judge claimed he was left in constant pain, unable to golf or swim or even at times hold a cup of coffee steady. Yet the following year, prosecutors say, he was...
North Carolina Insurance Investigators Thwart Alleged Auto Accident Ring
Oct 15 2008 // North Carolina Department of Insurance investigators arrested five Halifax County residents for their roles in what investigators are calling an auto insurance fraud ring that netted the accused more than $25,550 in...
Crime Prevention Program Comes to Texas/Mexico Border
Oct 15 2008 // The Insurance Council of Texas (ICT) has joined with the Texas Automobile Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority and the Del Rio, Laredo and Brownville Police Departments in a crime prevention campaign aimed at preventing...
American National Aiding Clients of Former Agent Accused of Premium Theft
Oct 10 2008 // Galveston, Texas-based American National Insurance Company and its subsidiary, American National Property and Casualty Company learned shortly after Hurricane Ike that one of its agents had failed to forward to the Texas...
Is ID Theft Insurance Worth Recommending to Agency Clients?
Oct 9 2008 // A client concerned about identity theft might consider moving to the Dakotas. It’s best to stay away, however, from Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Florida and New York. All of these states reported that more...
Wausau Signature Agency Forms Alliance to Combat Construction Theft
Oct 8 2008 // Wausau Signature Agency (WSA) recently announced it has entered into an alliance with the National Equipment Register (NER) to help WSA clients combat the growing problem of construction equipment theft by registering...
West Virginia Insurance Commission Employee Info on Stolen Laptop
Oct 8 2008 // A laptop containing personal information about more than 500 state employees in West Virginia is now in the hands of a thief. Department of Administration spokeswoman Diane Holley says the laptop was taken from an...
