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.

Arson is No Solution for Foreclosure Threat

The fact that there is little or no financial gain in setting a home on fire may explain why investigators are seeing so few cases of suspected arson involving houses threatened with foreclosure.

When a home is destroyed by fire, insurance will cover the replacement cost of the home. However, whether the fire is a result of arson or other means, the lender will be named on the insurance settlement check.

In 2007, California recorded 481,392 notices of default. However, while the number of foreclosures has skyrocketed, potential foreclosure-related arsons have not followed suit. Only 14 arsons potentially related to foreclosure were reported in 2007 by the California Department of Insurance.

Auto Arson Rises in S.J.

Can't make your auto payment? Light your car on fire, and tell the insurance company you were a victim of theft.

That's what a local prosecutor says he's seeing more of these days. But instead of chasing down a phantom arsonist, oftentimes he charges the car owner with insurance fraud.

A symptom of the overall economy - a troubled housing market and high gas prices - auto arsons in San Joaquin County have doubled in the past three years, according to the state Department of Insurance.

Will Foreclosures Spark an Arson Boom?

Faced with foreclosure on her Russellville, Indiana home, Christina Snyder allegedly concocted the kind of plan that now has insurance executives on edge.

According to the county prosecutor, the 31-year-old Snyder allegedly offered to pay a neighbor $5,000 to help her burn down her house and make it look like a botched rape attempt - all in order to claim $80,000 in insurance money. Snyder wanted the neighbor to bind her hands in duct tape, write "whore" on her shirt, and then help her escape once the blaze was set, the prosecutor says. The neighbor demurred, instead reporting Snyder to police.

Fire Investigators Crack Down on Insurance Fraud Scam

Police arrested two men accused of setting a huge house fire back in November. The homeowner, 27-year-old Brad Cox, and his friend 29-year-old Joseph Smith, are charged with second-degree arson.

The blaze gutted the home at 2602 S. 100th Street on November 10th. Believe it or not, fire investigators were suspicious of the home months before the fire even started. Back in May, Captain John Glesinger got a tip from police. "That this property may burn and the motive may be for insurance fraud purposes," he said.

Turns out, Cox was already under investigation for another fire a few years back. Glesinger credits teamwork to the success of this investigation. "We've been able to make an arrest and close the case inside of 2 months which is relatively quickly," Glesinger said.