Insurance Car Crash Scam in England

An insurance-fraud gang racked up £8m by duping innocent motorists into crashing their cars.

Crooks cut their own car brake lights before stopping sharply at roundabouts - so helpless victims rammed them from behind.

The gang members then made hugely-insurance claims on the victims' policies.

They often invented whiplash injuries to fictional `passengers' and exaggerated the damage to their own cars. And hundreds of drivers across Greater Manchester and Lancashire fell victim to the `crash for cash' scam, police believe. The average claim was £20,000 per incident.

Twenty-five arrests have already taken place after a three-year probe - with more expected in coming weeks.

Arizona Hosts Insurance Fraud Summit

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 resulted from the largest gathering of Arizona law enforcement, government agencies and insurance representatives.

The Arizona Insurance Fraud and Vehicle Theft Summit, co-sponsored by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) and the Arizona Insurance Council (AIC) representing property and casualty insurers, took place in Phoenix on Tuesday, Oct. 21, as part of a summit to discuss insurance fraud issues, prevention tactics and public policy solutions.

University of BC Sues Former Employee for Fraud

The University of B.C. is suing a former employee, alleging he stole more than $34,000 worth of materials for his own use over a six-year period.

Jan Patocka was terminated May 21 after UBC hired a private investigator and conducted an audit of purchase orders, UBC said in a statement of claim filed this week in B.C. Supreme Court.

The university alleges that Patocka had worked at the university since 1997 and held the position of minor works site supervisor from 2000 until his firing.

Vehicular Arson Becoming More Common

Burdened by debt and driving home from a night of gambling in West Virginia, Sergio Lopez launched a scheme that at the time must have seemed like a good idea.

He pulled his Volkswagen Jetta up to a random corner, doused the interior with petrol, set it on fire and walked away.

He later made a claim to Nationwide Insurance. He said that the car was missing and that someone could have stolen it.

But when his bluff was uncovered, Lopez found himself standing before the law. He pleaded guilty in his case this year.

Torching cars, especially if one can't meet payments, is set to become a trend.

The Washington Post said among the offenders were:

A police officer

A firefighter

And one man who did it as a favour to a friend.

Investigators say such crimes, which now number in the hundreds, are expected to increase.

Fraudsters Get Going As The Times Get Tough

White collar crime is on the rise as the global financial crisis puts the squeeze on struggling New Zealand businesses and their executives.

Police and private investigators confirm the credit crunch has led to an increase in business fraud and employee theft, while desperate property owners and motorists are torching houses and cars in insurance scams.

Dan Thompson, director of leading investigation firm Paragon NZ, said the recent rising trend of corporate crime was similar to the aftermath of the 1987 stockmarket crash - and he predicted fraud would increase further over the next 12 months.

As the Wall St meltdown hits the New Zealand markets, Thompson said cash-strapped employees, contractors, service providers and management were resorting to fraud.

"When times get tough, people start looking after themselves. We're definitely getting a rise in investigations of people feathering their own nest," said Thompson.

"With the financial crisis, it doesn't take long for people to get worried and say, 'I've got to grab what I can'."

Air Bag Fraud: Unreported "Life and Death" Scam

The next time you buy a used car or go to an auto repair shop, will your car have working air bags when you drive it away?

Lynette Loretto, a mother of three who lives in an Indian pueblo in Jemez, N.M., didn't know that the shiny yellow Chevy Cavalier she bought from a used-car dealer was a potential death trap. When she found out later that the car had been in an accident and didn't have working air bags, she says it made her skin crawl.

"I went hysterical," Loretto says. "I drove my daughters in that car a couple of times. ... If something were to have happened to us ... that would have been awful."

A Weekend Edition investigation shows that some unscrupulous auto repair shops have victimized consumers by failing to replace air bags that had deployed in a crash. The investigation also reveals instances in which used-car dealers sold cars without working air bags.

In some cases, air bag compartments have been stuffed with beer cans, paper or packing peanuts. Sometimes the original, faulty air bag is just pushed back in. And sometimes the air bag isn't replaced at all, leaving the compartment empty.

Although the number of such victims is unknown, the consequences can be tragic.

PETTERS GROUP CEO ARRESTED IN FRAUD INVESTIGATION

Petters Group Worldwide founder Tom Petters was arrested Friday on federal counts of fraud, money laundering and other charges.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said Petters was charged Thursday in federal court in Minneapolis with mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
Federal agents searched Petters Worldwide headquarters last week. A search warrant unsealed later included an FBI affidavit alleging the 51-year-old Petters was involved in schemes to defraud investors of as much as $100 million.
An attorney for Petters, Jon Hopeman, has said he denies any wrongdoing. Hopeman didn't immediately return a call Friday.
A second defendant was also charged with Petters. Sixty-seven-year-old Larry Reynolds of Las Vegas was arrested Friday in California. Another Petters associate, Robert White, was charged Tuesday.
Petters Group Worldwide's holdings include Sun Country Airlines and Polaroid.

Beware of Voter Registration Fraud

With a record number of people expected to go to the polls this November, the Better Business Bureau is warning about voter registration fraud. Identity thieves are using the election to try to get your personal information.

The deadline to register is October 10 and the identity thieves know that many people are unfamiliar with the process and may be voting for the first time.

Record numbers of people are expected to go to the polls this Election Day and scammers are aware of the voter registration drives that are out there. So they're using it as an opportunity to try to steal your personal information.

The scams can come from phone calls or official-looking sign-up booths but primarily, the thieves have just put a different spin on the tried-and-true phishing scams.

You get an e-mail which appears to be from some government agency saying you need to click on a link to register to vote or resolve some registration issue. You're actually being linked to a bogus site where you are asked for sensitive information

"Biggest Loser" Contestant a Big Loser - Indicted on Fraud Charges

A former “Biggest Loser” TV contestant from Boston who won a cool $100,000 on the show was indicted today for allegedly trying to scam insurance companies by repeatedly taking out pricey policies on jewelry after reporting that bling as stolen.

David Fioravanti, 43, who flunked out of the first season of the NBC hit show, is charged with five counts of motor vehicle insurance fraud, two counts of insurance fraud, larceny over $250, attempted larceny over $250 and making a false statement on a motor vehicle registration, Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office announced today.

Fioravanti is accused of registering his car at his mother’s address in Marshfield, where insurance premiums are cheaper, while he continued to live in Boston.

Nordstrom Arrests Result of In-Depth Investigation

Seven women accused of stealing and returning thousands of dollars of merchandise at Nordstrom stores for cash escaped notice for months, according to law enforcement investigators.

But the tide began to turn in May.

Some of the alleged thieves were store security employees, called loss prevention agents in modern retail parlance, and had a leg up on how to avoid getting caught stealing.
In fact, the alleged ringleader of the theft scheme, 26-year-old Rozita Davani, had been loss prevention manager at the King of Prussia store until she quit last spring.

Though the suspected thieves operated under the radar beginning in January, by May a seasoned Nordstrom investigator, Melissa Bridge, discovered numerous customer orders were missing, and began to unravel the alleged fraud that involved not only the King of Prussia Plaza store, but also stores in New Jersey and Maryland, according to court papers.