Essays
"How Does Insurance Fraud Hurt South Carolina Citizens?"
Columbia, S.C., April 28, 2004 -- Students from across the state were honored here this week for authoring winning essays on how insurance fraud hurts South Carolinians. The contest was sponsored by several state agencies and the S.C. Fraud Investigators Association. Winning essays are re-published below.
Winning Essays
The Hurt Spreads -- Alex Rao, R.C.
Edwards Middle School
Insurance Fraud: A Hole in the Pocket -- Ashley
Renee Morgan, R.C. Edwards Middle School
A Scandalous Crime -- Jeuel Davis, RC Edwards
Middle School
Insurance Fraud in South Carolina -- Corey Allen,
RC Edwards Middle School
The Killer Crime -- Talene Amirkhanian, RC
Edwards Middle School
Insurance Fraud in South Carolina -- Megan Jones, RC Edwards Middle School
Insurance Fraud -- Kirsten
Kaiser, RC Edwards Middle School
Insurance Fraud Hurts Everyone -- Kimberly
Stiltz, Hunter-Kinard Tyler School
Insurance Fraud -- Angela Moss, York Junior High
School
Insurance Fraud in the Lives of South Carolina's
Citizens -- Mitchell Plyler, York Junior High School
How Does Insurance Fraud Hurt SC Citizens? --
Meaghan Champion, York Junior High School
Insurance Fraud -- Aubrie Phillips, York
Junior High School
Insurance Fraud Has Got To Stop -- Olivia
Carpenter, York Junior High School
The Horrors of Insurance Fraud -- Bradneshia
Coleman, Hunter Kinard Tyler School
How Does Insurance Fraud Hurt South Carolina
Citizens? -- Megan Padgett, Branchville High School
How Does Insurance Fraud Hurt S.C. Citizens? --
Natasha Summers, Branchville High School
Insurance Fraud: Crimes & Cover-ups --
Shannon Smoak, Branchville High School
"Dial 'F' for Fraud" -- Kimberly Ott, Branchville
High School
South Carolina — Fraud Free -- Jessica Harvey,
York Junior High School
The Hurt Spreads
By Alex
Rao
R.C. Edwards Middle School
Insurance Fraud is a crime that is commonly attempted. Many people think
that insurance fraud is an easy way to get money but it's not. You end up
paying back the money and serving probation. People make excuses for insurance
fraud such as "I needed the money." Even though that may be true it's still
illegal to commit insurance fraud.
I committed insurance fraud once and got caught. I know you were expecting me to tell
other people's stories, but I'm going to tell you mine too.
I was 20, in my junior year of college. I was in serious debt with the
apartment I rented, the credit card bill and the car I was paying off. I needed
some quick cash. I decided to pretend my car was stolen so I could collect the
insurance money from the car insurance company. I went to a club one night and
had my friend "steal" my car.
I called the insurance company to report the theft. They sent me my money. I
was doing just fine, paying off the bill on my old car and having enough money
to buy a new one when I realized I needed insurance for my new civic.
When I was looking for a good place to buy insurance, I realized the cost of
insurance had gone up a lot. I wondered what was going on for a while when
suddenly it hit me, since I made the insurance company pay for my car, they
raised costs to get the money back.
"Aww, man, now I've got to pay like twice as much for insurance!"
The next morning the cops were at my door.
"Sir, we would like to know why you had your friend steal your car," said the
officer.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't play dumb. We found your friend driving down the highway in the stolen
car. He told us everything. Now don't make this hard."
I was sentenced to 6 months of probation.
It was a lesson I had to learn the hard way. I, like many others, was suffering
from my foolish idea. I was suffering probation. They were suffering premiums
increasing. I know what I did was wrong and I wont' do it again.
Now that I know what insurance fraud can do to people, I feel like a real jerk.
I might even thing about working to stop insurance fraud.
(P.S. None of the part about me committing insurance fraud is true)
Return to essay titles.
Insurance Fraud: A Hole in the Pocket
By Ashley Renee
Morgan
R.C. Edwards Middle School
Insurance Fraud can leave many South Carolina citizens in deep debt. When
somebody commits an insurance fraud, the people who already have insurance have
to pay for the money lost by the insurance company. Most of the people who have
ever committed an insurance fraud don't even notice that they are cheating
other people out of their money, but in all reality, they are.
In my opinion, anyone who is low enough to commit an insurance fraud is just
plain greedy. In one case, believe it or not, a mother took her own daughter's
insurance money. The mother spent the money while her child was in need of it!
What kind of mother would do that? Not a loving one, that's for sure.
There are many ways that you can commit an insurance fraud. From what I've
learned, it isn't' that hard to get by with it either: burning your house down
to get house insurance money, claiming you are disabled and getting disability
income, reporting that your expensive ring was stolen and getting the money to
replace it. See what extremes people will go to , just to get some free money?
I have a feeling money will never be that important to me.
To understand insurance fraud, you may want to know what the definitions of
insurance and fraud are. Insurance means insuring people , or their property .
Meaning it keeps people insured, knowing that if they are injured or lose their
property, they will receive the money to pay for everything. The term 'fraud'
means misrepresentation intended to deceive. When you put the tow together, you
are misrepresenting yourself and using the insurance company's money to work
your way through it.
As you should now be able to see, the people who are committing insurance fraud
are greatly hurting South Carolina citizens. Don't' let one of those people be
you if insurance fraud goes to far, other innocent insurance payers may go into
debt. All for a stranger's wrong doings. Something most definitely needs to be
done about insurance fraud, or we may all end up in debt.
Return to essay titles.
A Scandalous Crime
By Jeuel
Davis
RC Edwards Middle School
"Oh my gosh," Michelle shouted. "Look at this insurance bill!"
"Jeff, we are paying and extra one thousand dollars this year because people in
our state are committing insurance fraud," she said.
"Michelle, we don't' have the money to be paying an extra one thousand dollars
this year," Jeff exclaimed.
"Well, we are just going to have to budget more on groceries, clothes and other
needs," Michelle explained. "In addition, you know there will be no vacations,"
she said.
"I'll just have to work more hours at the office." Jeff sighed. "You might even
have to get a job yourself, Michelle," Jeff said.
"I guess so," Michelle sighed. "We will figure it out."
Do you want this to happen to you? Well read this paper to learn about
insurance fraud so this won't happen to you.
First, as you can see, when someone commits insurance fraud it affects more
than just that person. It affects other citizens too. Insurance fraud first
affects people's money. In the story, that couple and their family will have to
budget more because of that extra one thousand dollars. That is a lot of money!
Many citizens in South Carolina are probably in debt. So making them pay more
for insurance is not helping them at all. It also forces people to buy less
consumer goods. Therefore their families will also suffer from insurance fraud.
Does that make you angry? Well, it makes me angry too. So let us do something
to stop it!
Next, it will probably also affect South Carolina citizen's jobs. Grocery
stores will be influenced because if families have to buy less consumer good
which includes food and clothing and appliances, then they won't be bringing in
as much money. That means people might lose their jobs so that the stores and
companies can save money. Also, the citizen's salaries could be affected so
once again the stores and companies can save money. Second, it could affect
tourism for South Carolina. Now, families will have to save their money for
insurance instead of vacations because they might not have extra money to spend
on trips. Therefore, tourism profits will probably go down because people are
saving money. Once again, citizens might lose their jobs and get a lower salary
because the beaches and major cities will probably need it. Another reason why
South Carolina wants insurance fraud stopped.
"Hey Jeff look what I found on the internet," Michelle exclaimed. "Here is a
hotline we can call if we hear bout insurance fraud."
"For now though, I figure that if you get a full time job, and I work overtime
in the office, then we should be able to pay the extra money."
"The kids will just have to watch over each other while I'm gone," Michelle
said.
"I can't believe how much one person can affect so many other people!" Jess
said exasperated.
In conclusion, insurance fraud is a scandalous and an unethical crime. It does
affect South Carolina citizens terribly. It hurts their profits, money and
jobs. Hopefully my essay has changed someone's perspective in a way that they
will change someone else's.
Return to essay titles.
Insurance Fraud in South Carolina
By Corey Allen
RC Edwards Middle School
Insurance fraud not only affects South Carolina citizens but many people
nationwide. For example, property and casualty fraud cost insurers $27 billion
in 2001 and cost the average household $200 to $300 on insurance premiums.
Also, the national Insurance Crime Bureau says that insurance fraud raises
taxes and inflates prices on consumer goods. Finally, it is hard to track down
the violators.
Insurance fraud does horrible things to the violator. Most of the time, they
are put on probation. Secondly, they must pay a fine and pay back all the money
they stole from insurer. The person then loses all their pride and
self-respect. They could hurt their community if they had not already done so
during the fraud. Lastly, they probably will not properly respected in their
community again. As you can see, the communities in South Carolina are deeply
affected by insurance fraud.
Next, I will tell you about some outrageous examples of insurance fraud in
South Carolina 2002. A lake Murray woman was convicted of Making a False
Statement while working as a fishing guide. In her papers she had claimed that
she was not working and was unable to work. Since she had been illegally
receiving disability income, government investigators paid her to take them on
a two-day fishing trip. While on her trip, they videotaped her filleting fish,
moving gas tanks, bending over to hook lines, and using fishing net. Later she
was sentenced to probation and restitution. Second, a Richland county woman was
convicting of Presenting A False Claim for Payment. She had been in a car
accident with her daughter. The daughter had occurred hospital bills as a
minor, but the woman took money from the State Farm Insurance, cashed the
money, and never did pay the hospital. She was ordered to pay back her daughter
and received a fine. Third, a Columbia boy claimed that his truck had been
stolen from a local club. The boy said that he had been in the club all night.
After an investigation by the Columbia Police Department, his truck was found
burned. His cell phone had been used from the site of the fire just before the
call to the fire department . He was convicted of insurance fraud and ordered
to pay a fine and restitution. Many other bizarre cases have occurred in the
past five years in South Carolina
Fourth, I will tell you about fraud in South Carolina. Every year in South
Carolina, hundreds of arson cases are reported to the South Carolina Law
Enforcement Division. Also, nearly one thousand cases of insurance fraud are
reported to the South Carolina Attorney General's Insurance Fraud Division.
Also, South Carolina Arson and Insurance Fraud investigators work daily to stop
fraud.
Last, I will tell you about fraud in general. There are seven common types of
insurance fraud. They are: underreporting miles driven on an auto policy,
failing to report an accurate medical history, faking injuries to avoid work,
falsifying and/or exaggerating auto accident injuries, staging car accidents,
drawing benefits because of fake injures, and exaggerating stolen items.
Insurance fraud deeply hurts our state!
Return to essay titles.
The Killer Crime
By Talene Amirkhanian
RC Edwards Middle School
I, Kathy Rae Caylor, have done some wrongs in South Carolina. For you who
don't know me, I have committed insurance fraud. This year alone, including my
cases, six hundred and seven insurance fraud cases have been reported.
Twenty-nine cases resulted in civil memoranda of understanding and thirty-eight
resulted in guilty pleas. In one year, other criminals and I have helped to
reach the total amount of two million dollars because of reported frauds.
For those South Carolina citizens that don't understand my profession, listen
up! Insurance fraud is when you say that you're disabled, dead, etcâ¦when
everything is fine, or you committed the crime to get money from the insurance
companies. For example, I burned my car and told the insurance companies that
someone stole my car. The insurance companies paid me the money. Later on, I
got arrested for insurance fraud. When you commit insurance fraud, you cheat
insurance companies out of a lot of money. So far, I have not gotten away with
one crime! I have either been sent to jail or had to serve three weeks on
probation. Too bad in South Carolina it is considered a felony. Police forces
seem to be more alert these days!
I have hurt many South Carolina citizens. An average family pays about one
thousand dollars a year because of the crimes that I have committed. Insurance
fraud cheats many customers out of their money. They end up paying for the bad
things that I have done. Every time I decide to commit insurance fraud, it
takes state and insurance industry out of millions of dollars. This could be
really hard on South Carolina Citizens. For example, if I told the insurance
companies that my husband died, and they found out that he didn't. I'd be in
big trouble. I would have to go to court and face insurance companies. The
companies have to use money to hire lawyers, present a case, and so on. That
would take money away from South Carolina citizens and insurance companies.
Boy, insurance fraud is a costly crime.
Lucky for South Carolina citizens, many people are trying to put an end to what
I do! South Carolina officials declared September 22-26 Insurance Fraud
Awareness week. (Good thin I commit my crimes in the winder) They're also
setting up hotlines to report cases to the Attorney General's Insurance Fraud
Division. Unfortunately for me, the hotline is open seven days a week,
twenty-four hours a day. The tip line (1.888.95.FRAUD) is a major part of
public awareness. Wow, so much is being done to put an end to my
profession.
Insurance Fraud hurts almost every South Carolina citizen. When someone commits
insurance fraud it takes money away from innocent families and insurance
companies. The only bad thing about being a criminal is the consequences.
That's all I have to say about my job! Warn your friends!
Insurance fraud hurts everyone.
Return to essay titles.
Insurance Fraud in South Carolina
By
Megan Jones
RC Edwards Middle School
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Janie Woods, and I am a resident in the State of South Carolina.
For the past few years, our state has had problems with insurance fraud. As an
upstanding citizen, I would like to voice my opinions about the issues it has
caused. Protecting my rights is something that I feel very strongly about. This
is the very reason why I am writing this extensive letter, which I would like
you to take into consideration.
To begin with, I would like to tell you what my idea of insurance fraud is. In
my eyes, insurance fraud is misrepresenting a fact or facts in order to get
extra money from your insurance company. I believe that some of the leading
types of insurance fraud are staged auto accidents, fake accident claims, phony
workplace injuries, and arson. An act such as this is generally more prevalent
in a recession than after a major catastrophe. Insurance fraud is now
considered a felony in most of the states in our country. What I am trying to
say, is that having an understanding of what insurance fraud is, helps a person
understand how it affects them.
Secondly, insurance fraud hurts the citizens of South Carolina in many ways.
For one thing, it costs an average family almost $1000 a year. This money is
obtained by raising the cost of certain items that are necessary for families.
The extra money that is made goes to the crime of insurance fraud. That money
could be used for other things such as building schools, roads, hospitals and
airports. It could also be used to improve the society by setting up fun
activities for the families to get involved in. insurance fraud can also bring
on crimes such as murders. I personally feel that when someone in a town
commits insurance fraud, it gives the rest of the town a bad name. All in all,
insurance fraud has definitely hurt my family and all of the other citizens of
South Carolina.
Third, knowing examples of insurance fraud can help one understand the
intensity of this crime. A potential example could be that a father, the money
maker in the family, says he has broken his leg and that his wife is not
capable of working. A later investigation could find out that the man had been
health all along and that his wife taught school. He would then have to pay
back all of the money he was given. Another example could be that someone sets
their car on fire to later say that it has spontaneously combusted. Although
this may seem impossible, remains of his car were found, and evidence proved
that he had, in fact, set it on fire. The man would then be sentenced to
probation and have to pay the money back to his insurance company.
Altogether, insurance fraud badly hurts the citizens of South Carolina. The
extra expenses and the bad names it gives to the town are just a few negative
results of this crime. I hope that this informative letter I am sending to you
has let you know how the citizens of this state feel. I am not asking that you
adopt my opinions, but that you just think about them. Thank you again for your
time and effort that was put into helping stop insurance fraud.
Sincerely,
Janie Woods
South Carolina Citizen
Return to essay titles.
Insurance Fraud
By Kirsten Kaiser
RC Edwards Middle School
Insurance fraud is a problem affecting many people in South Carolina. It
costs the average family about one thousand dollars per year. It also raises
the prices of goods and services.
One very common type of insurance fraud is faking injury to receive disability
income or faking accidents to your car. Another type is claiming that you or
your husband died to get money. Saying that your husband died could get you up
to four hundred thousand dollars! What surprises me most is that one in three
Americans think insurance fraud is all right.
I have a couple of example of insurance fraud for you. One is a lady that
collected disability income when she was perfectly fine. She lives in lake
Murray and works as a fishing guide. She reported that she was not working and
not capable of working. Investigators went fishing for two days and saw her
filleting fish, moving gas tanks, bending over to hook lines, and using a
fishing net. She was convicted of Making a False Statement or
Misrepresentation.
Another example is a woman in Anderson county who reported that her husband
died. She almost got four hundred thousand dollars! She got arrested, but did
it again! When she got out of jail she reported her own death to the insurance
company. She got no money and was arrested again.
Insurance fraud is very bad and should not be tolerated in South Carolina.
Return to essay titles.
Insurance Fraud Hurts Everyone
By Kimberly Stiltz
Hunter-Kinard Tyler School
It is shocking to realize that insurance fraud hurts everyone, not just the
insurance companies. False claims cost Americans billions of dollars every
year. The total of Auto, Home, businesses and Heath fraud was $96 billion in
1999. Fraud costs Americans an averate of $1,000 extra in insurance premiums
every year. It is estimated that at least 10 percent of all insurance claims
are fraudulent or highly inflated.
People devise all kinds of strange plans to get money from their insurance
companies. Some of the most frequent fraudulent claims are staged automobile
accidents. People claim whiplash, hurt backs, legs, and arms, when they have
not really suffered an injury at all. I hear about a woman who claimed to have
been hit by cars ten times through the years. She would step in front of a slow
moving car at an intersection, scream and fall down before the car even touched
her.
People claim to have been injured at work, or in a car wreck, and deliberately
injure themselves so they can collect money. Many times cars are reported
stolen, and they are later found burned or at the bottom of a lake somewhere.
One of the strangest claims was made by a a man who said that his tractor had
been stolen. Investigators discovered that he had dug a deep hole and buried
the tractor! It was reported that a number of people filed false claims that
their husbands or wives had been killed in the World Trade Center on 9-11 when
the terrorists destroyed the twin towers.
When robberies occur, people often fraudulently claim to have lost very
expensive jewelry and other objects of great value. People also set fire to
their own homes to obtain insurance money. This often happens when a home has
been hard to sell, or when people are having financial difficulties.
We can help to reduce false claims by calling the South Carolina Insurance
Fraud hotline at 1.888.95.FRAUD, if we see or hear anything suspicious. One of
the most important things we can do is make a personal decision to never make a
fraudulent claim ourselves.
Return to essay titles.
Insurance Fraud
by Angela
Moss
York Junior High School
Insurance fraud cost the average American family $1,000 per year. In South
Carolina alone, there were 914 insurance fraud cases in 2002. That year alone
cost South Carolina $47 million dollars.
There are many ways to commit insurance fraud. People fake car accidents, job
injuries, and arson. Ten percent of auto, home, and business insurance claims
are either frauds or they are inflated. The most common insurance fraud cases
are fake car accidents, fake accident claims, fake job injuries, and arson.
Americans are becoming less tolerant of insurance fraud. Auto insurance is
definitely one of the most common frauds. Seventy-eight percent of Americans
are worried about auto insurance fraud in their state because it leads to
higher rates.
The penalties of committing insurance fraud are fines up to jail time. In some
cases, insurance fraud is considered a felony.
Health insurance is another common fraud. The biggest fraud in the health
insurance is medicare and medicade.
In 2002, the insurance fraud cost us $31 billion dollars. I think that people
shouldn't try to get more money by faking accidents and lying. American should
be more aware of this problem because it is costing taxpayers more money
because of dishonest people. It's not fair to hard-working people to lay liars
money.
Some people will get people to hurt them on purpose to fake an injury or they
will wreck their car on purpose. In one case, this man got his friend to hit
him with a board and he wrecked his motorcycle. Some people hide their cars and
say that they were stolen. If people were honest, maybe our insurance rates
would not be so high. If fraud was a business, it would be one of the top
businesses in the world.
Auto theft is probably one of the biggest frauds, but the most unbelievable
case are when this person filed a claim saying his car was stolen, eventually
they found the car burned. When somebody said that the car was set on fire by
using kerosene, one of the guys said that they used gasoline, not kerosene. One
woman claimed that her husband died, until they found out that he was still
alive. Later on they found out she claimed that she had died and had collected
$400,000. On Christmas, one man set his family's home on fire. What will people
do for money? I think it is sad that some people will do just about anything to
get money.
People in South Carolina need to be honest and report any insurance fraud.
South Carolina's mandatory reporting act states, "⦠any person, insurer,
authorized agency having reason to believe that another had made false
statements or misrepresentation or has knowledge of a suspected false statement
or misrepresentation shall, for purpose of reporting and investigation, notify
South Carolina's Attorney General's Insurance fraud hotline at 1-888-95-FRAUD
(toll free in SC)."
I think that South Carolina needs to be more honest. Insurance fraud needs to
be reported more often.
Return to essay titles.
Insurance Fraud in the Lives of South
Carolina's Citizens
by Mitchell Plyler
York Junior High School
Insurance fraud is a purposeful deception aimed against or for an insurance
company with the goal of making a profit. Do people truly do this? Yes. Do they
get away with it? Yes. Does it adversely affect the citizens of South Carolina?
Yes.
Insurance fraud is a highly common way to make some quick cash. Three main
categories involving fraud are auto, home, and business insurance. Many
fraudulent claims in these categories include staged accidents, "workplace"
injuries, and arson. A staged accident is an accident that has been planned by
a person or group of persons to be able to collect on. An example could be an
automotive accident that is planned to collect on car insurance and "injury".
There are two types of common "workplace" injuries involved in insurance fraud.
One type involves an injury outside of a job that is claimed to be received in
the workplace. This allows the person making the claim to get free medical and
workman's compensation, which pays them even though they are not working.
Arson, pertaining to insurance frauds is burning an item, house or car, etc.,
for the reason of collecting insurance money. I heard a story of a man who
owned a lumber company. This company had recently laid off workers, and those
laid off were enraged. They acted against their employer and burned down his
lumber yard. The owner of the lumber yard was able to collect insurance for
everything his company owned. The fraud in this story is that about half of the
company's possessions were in perfect condition, thus the owner committed a
fraudulent act.
Now you may ask: How does this affect South Carolina's citizens? An average of
one thousand dollars per household per year in insurance premiums. That's how
it affects the average South Carolina citizen! We, the citizens, have to pay
for what these fraudulent crooks have taken. There were nine hundred fourteen
cases of insurance fraud reported in 2002. That's nine hundred reported cases
that the citizens of South Carolina are having to pay for. That's not to
mention frauds that were never caught or noticeable.
So what is being done to stop insurance fraud? The insurance companies
themselves have taken action. They have formed Special Investigation Units
(SIU's) that check into claims that reek of insurance fraud, those claims that
have an easily noticeable flow.
The SIU's can catch the big fish, but the little fish swim right through the
net. If someone's jewelry is stolen out of their house and it's worth three
hundred dollars, that person could easily claim four or five hundred dollars
worth if insurance money. Many of these fairly small frauds are un-noticed or
unchecked, because they seem plausible. This allows the opportunist to get away
with some easy money.
Since these small fish slip through the net of the SIU, the South Carolina
citizens have to pay for the criminals who take advantage of simple insurance
fraud. These small robberies are minor, but this adds up to millions of extra
dollars taken and paid by the state and its citizens. What can the citizens of
South Carolina do to rid the state of insurance fraud? That is decided by the
citizens and their choices.
Return to essay titles.
How Does Insurance Fraud Hurt SC
Citizens?
by Meaghan Champion
York Junior High School
Insurance fraud is a crime that is occurring more often each year. As a
matter of fact, six-hundred seven cases of insurance fraud have been reported
in SC this year, with thirty eight guilty please.
Some types of insurance fraud include catastrophe, workers compensation,
e-commerce, auto and health, but there are many others. It can range from lying
on an insurance application to staging accidents. Also, about 40% of Americans
think it is okay to pad an insurance claim, and one in three Americans say it
is all right to exaggerate insurance claims under certain circumstances.
It sometimes seems difficult to understand how insurance fraud hurts South
Carolina citizens, but there are definite affects to these crimes. The most
obvious and most significant of these effe3cts are the great losses of money in
SC.
First, fraud cost up to eighty-five billion dollars in 1999. In 2001, it cost
twenty-seven billion dollars in property and casualty fraud alone. And where
does the money come from? It comes from us. South Carolina citizens. Most
people think fraud is a victimless crime, but you are the victim. As a result
of insurance fraud, Americans pay an extra one thousand thirty dollars per year
in insurance premiums. For this reason, 78% of Americans are becoming concerned
about the effects of insurance fraud on auto insurance.
Secondly, staging fake accidents and faking disabilities is causing major
problems in SC. These very detailed crimes cost great amounts of money to
stage, as well as for insurance companies to cover. All of this money is being
wasted on people whose main purpose is to take advantage of hardworking South
Carolina citizens in order to earn money fast. As a matter of fact, some fraud
cases are so heinous that their coordinators fake their own death or the death
of a loved one to earn money very quickly.
Last, the rise of insurance premiums due to insurance fraud makes it difficult
for low-income families to have insurance coverage. Some families in South
Carolina have a hard time paying these high premiums, so there are many
low-income families without insurance, mainly health insurance.
All of these problems are because of criminals who want to earn easy money,
including a man who stages a motorcycle accident by having a friend hit him
with a board to fake injuries, and the men who claim that their car
"spontaneously" burst into flames in order to collect insurance money.
Although only thirty eight out of these six-hundred seven fraud cases pleas
guilty, it is imperative to crack down on the criminals taking advantage of our
insurance system. A problem that must first be addressed to snub the criminals
is that civil and criminal penalties for insurance fraud have decreased in the
last decade. Insurance fraud offenders should be more harshly punished to show
that the crimes they are committing are serious offenses because they affect a
vast number of people.
As Phil Porter, S.C. Consumer Advocate and member of the Coalition Against
Insurance fraud says, "The message is a simple, yet powerful one: we all pay
for insurance fraud, it's time to fight back."
Return to essay titles.
Insurance Fraud
By Aubrie
Phillips
York Junior High School
Insurance fraud can be simple as lying on an insurance application or as
serious as "staging" accidents. So how does insurance fraud hurt South Carolina
citizens? Insurance fraud is a major problem in South Carolina and it hurts the
citizens by the loss of money or total amount of money the citizens pay for
insurance or taxes.
Insurance fraud is a deliberate deception perpetrated against or by an
insurance company or agent for the purpose of financial gain. Some of South
Carolina's top ten most outrageous cases of insurance fraud are examples of how
insurance fraud hurts its citizens.
For example, a York County man admitted to having a friend hit him with a board
to fake injuries from a stages motorcycle accident. The man later had claimed
to the insurance company that a woman backing out of a parking lot hit him. The
insurance company investigated the "accident" and found that the mans
motorcycle was wrecked before the false claim was made. Because of this, he
received a one year jail sentence.
Other problems include filing an insurance claim for their own car. People
would deliberately burn their own car just to receive money from insurance.
Also it's a fact that a woman in Anderson County had filed a death claim
producing an obituary, certificate of death and funeral home mane upon her so
called "dead husband." When an investigation accurated, it was discovered that
the husband is alive and well I might add. The woman also claimed that SHE
HERSELF is DEAD and was almost paid over $400,000.
A man was also said to have burnt his own family home down, during Christmas
Day. This man as admitted setting 2 fires at his family home and making 2 false
insurance claims.
All of these examples are reasons why insurance fraud hurts South Carolina
citizens. The citizens have to pay the money that was taken from the insurance
company. Truthfully, if people would live honestly and quit doing this stuff
our insurance would be cut in half, which would help South Carolina citizens.
The rising price of insurance is mainly affected in auto and health
insurance.
Most states have passed laws which specifically define the crime of insurance
fraud, and which raise insurance fraud from the level of a misdemeanor to a
felony. Insurance fraud as a crime hurts South Carolina's citizens because they
pay for other people's problems and bad choices. Although the citizens have no
choice but to pay the insurance company, the crime for insurance fraud is a
major problem in South Carolina and students at a young age need to be aware of
its negative affects.
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Insurance Fraud Has Got To
Stop
by Olivia Carpenter
York Junior High School
In this essay you will learn how insurance fraud hurts South Carolina's
citizens. Insurance frau is a major concern in the State of South Carolina.
There are many types of insurance fraud people have came up with. Such as
staged auto accidents, fake accident claims, phony workplace injuries, and
arson. In the year of 2003, six-hundred and seven cases of insurance fraud were
reported in South Carolina.
Insurance fraud affects many South Carolinians. An average American household
pays an extra one-thousand dollars a year due to insurance fraud. In 1999,
auto, home, and business insurance fraud costs Americans twenty-four billion
dollars. In the year 2001, property casualty insurance fraud costs insurers
twenty-seven billion dollars. Ten percent of auto, home, and business insurance
claims are fraudulent.
In this paragraph, you will view a few examples of insurance fraud. There are
many other cases, but these are just a small quantity of them. Once there was a
Cherokee County man who reported his jeep stolen from his yard. The Jeep was
found burned. Five people were charged with insurance fraud. During court, the
acquaintance mentioned the Jeep was set on fire with kerosene. One of the
defendants shouted out, "I used gasoline, not kerosene!" All five of the people
admitted to setting the Jeep on fire, along with two other vehicles. Also, in
York County a man admitted to having his friend hit him with a board to fake
injuries from a motorcycle accident. The man later claimed to the insurance
company that a lady hit him backing out of a parking lot. Later in the
investigation, the insurance company found out that his motorcycle was wrecked
before the claim was made. He received a year in jail for this false claim.
As you see from the examples above, insurance fraud is serious business. In
some cases of insurance fraud you can receive probation or even jail time.
Insurance fraud causes many citizens of South Carolina to suffer. Some people
can hardly survive paying just their car payments, water bill, electricity
bill, etc. I don't think it is fair for the South Carolinians to have to pay
larger amounts on their insurance for other peoples' mistakes. It makes no
sense to me! In my opinion, I think the people who commit insurance fraud
should be put in jail for quite a long sentence. Every time insurance fraud
occurs, it causes every South Carolinians' insurance rate to rise higher. There
has already been a huge amount of people to commit insurance fraud, so South
Carolinians' insurance rate is already quite high.
In conclusion, there needs to be a stop to all of this insurance fraud. It
won't stop unless we get strict on the consequences of committing this terrible
crime. I hope that son or in the future, that the government will put an end to
insurance fraud.
I really enjoyed writing this essay! I was glad to finally be able to express
my opinion on insurance fraud. I hop you enjoyed reading this essay as much as
I did writing it. Thanks for allowing me to express my opinion by this
insurance fraud essay contest.
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The Horrors of Insurance
Fraud
By Bradneshia Coleman
Hunter Kinard Tyler School
Insurance fraud is a criminal act in which a person lies to the insurance
company about property to obtain money. There is a great consequence when a
person commits insurance fraud. People can serve many years in prison for
insurance fraud. When a person receives money from an insurance company by
insurance fraud, the citizens have to pay more money to the insurance company.
This criminal act must be stopped. If not, the country will go down
economically.
There have been many cases of insurance fraud. In one case a man falsified his
wife's death. He told policy that she lost her life in the World Trade Center.
He received over $250,000. The police found them at their home in Georgia. The
man and his wife are serving 10 years in prison because she knew about him
falsifying her death.
Another case of insurance fraud was committed when a man told the insurance
company that his tractor was stolen. One of his neighbors told policy that
there was something sticking out of his field. The policy dug up the object and
found that it was the man's tractor. Then the man was arrested and had to serve
a log of time in prison.
As you can see, insurance fraud can get people in a whole lot of trouble. That
is why citizens must take action to prevent it. Ways they can do this are:
calling the insurance fraud hotline at 1-888-95-FRAUD if they have witnessed
it, talk people out of committing fraud if they tell them they are going to
commit it, and talk to their community about it. These simple things could
cause a big decrease in insurance fraud and maybe even stop it.
In conclusion, insurance fraud is illegal and harmful to the economy. People
should take as much action as they possibly can to put an end to it. Many
people have been put in jail for insurance fraud and that is not good. Everyone
needs to think seriously about insurance fraud and try their very best to
prevent it.
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How Does Insurance Fraud Hurt South
Carolina Citizens?
by Megan Padgett
Branchville High School
"Auto, home, and business insurance fraud costs Americans more than %85
billion a year. Fraud could be as simple as misrepresenting facts on an
insurance application or padding or inflating actual claims or as serious as
submitting claims for injuries or damage that never occurred and staging
accidents. At least 10% of all auto, home, and business insurance claims are
either fraudulent or highly inflated."
Studies show that one in three Americans believe it is "all right" to pad
claims to make up for premiums paid in previous years when they had no claims.,
Most people think that fraud is a victimless crime, but you are the victim.
Insurance fraud directly affects the amount you pay for health, auto, &
homeowner's insurance and increases the prices you pay for goods and services.
Under South Carolina law, you MUST report insurance fraud if you have reason to
believe someone has committed this crime. If insurance fraud were a business it
would be a Fortune 500 company.
Some ways people could participate in insurance fraud is: under-reporting on
their auto insurance policy application the number of miles they drive, failing
to report accurate medical history when they are applying for health insurance,
faking or exaggerating injuries to avoid work and to draw workers compensation
payout, falsifying or overstating injuries in an auto accident to achieve a
large settlement or award, staging automobile accidents which result in claims
for non-existent injuries, fabricating relationships to draw life insurance
benefits, and exaggerating the amount and value of items stolen from a home and
business. It seems that even the most honest person may have done one of these
on a small scale or may know someone who has done one of these. The problem is,
it is wrong and costs everyone.
South Carolina has become one of the most active states in the nation when it
comes to prosecuting insurance fraud. The S.C. Attorney General's office said
"914 cases of insurance fraud were reported in the state last year, resulting
in the collection of nearly $168,000 in court-ordered fines & restitution."
According to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, South Carolina was the
second leading state in 2002 in the prosecution of insurance fraud cases &
the sixth leading state in the conviction of fraud suspects."
In 2002, the state spent an average of $3,000 on each of its 98 insurance
frauds. "South Carolina had a 24% increase in investigations and an 18 percent
increase in indictments from 2002. The Attorney General's office received 844
complaints of insurance fraud in 2003, with 44 percent focusing on auto
insurance alone. The overall number of fraud complaints had decreased 7 percent
from 2002. This brings the total to nearly $47 million in insurance fraud
reported and over $4 million in monies collected since the South Carolina
Attorney General's Insurance Fraud Division began prosecuting insurance fraud
cases in May of 1995.
Most insurance companies now have their own Special Investigations Unit (SIU's)
to check out suspected cases of insurance fraud. To report suspected insurance
fraud, call your insurance company or the South Carolina Insurance Fraud
hotline at 1-888-95-FRAUD. This hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week for reporting insurance fraud, which can be a felony in South Carolina.
All reports remain confidential, and you do not have to give your name.
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How Does Insurance Fraud Hurt S.C.
Citizens?
by Natasha Summers
Branchville High School
Insurance fraud is a deliberate deception of South Carolina citizens to
receive financial gain. South Carolina citizens are very concerned with how
insurance fraud may be hurting them. Insurance fraud is committed every year by
a numerous amount of people in South Carolina. Unfortunately, insurance
frauders fail to realize they are infringing on the rights of other citizens.
One in three Americans believe it is all right to commit insurance fraud.
Insurance fraud directly affects the amount that is paid for health, auto, and
homeowner's insurance.
There are several ways insurance fraud may hurt South Carolina citizens.
Insurance rates on cars for teenagers increase due to insurance fraud. Most
teenagers receive his or her license around the age of sixteen. As insurance
rates continue to increase due to insurance fraud, less teenagers are getting
their license immediately after having their permit.
The average American household pays around one thousand thirty dollars per year
due to insurance fraud in South Carolina. This money should be spent on items
that will benefit South Carolina. Auto, home and business insurance fraud cost
Americans more than eighty-five billion dollars a year. Insurance fraud would
be known as a top fortune five hundred company if it was a business.
The simplest type of fraud is misrepresenting facts on an application, and the
most serious type of fraud is submitting claims for injuries that never
happened. Seven of the most common types of insurance fraud are
under-reporting, failing to report, faking or exaggerating injuries, falsifying
or overstating injuries, staging automobile accidents, fabricating
relationships, and exaggerating the value of items stolen.
South Carolina's biggest ally in the fight against insurance fraud is Blue
Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina. Blue Cross works with the federal, state
and local law enforcement agencies to prosecute fraud cases. Examples of health
insurance fraud by customers are letting someone else who does not have
healthcare coverage use their cards, filing false claims or changing dates of
service. People think insurance companies and businesses do not commit
insurance fraud, but they do. Some examples of healthcare fraud committed by
doctors and healthcare professionals are billing for more expensive services
the patient never received, filing claims for unnecessary procedures, and
filing a claim for a more expensive procedure than the one actually given.
Doctors and healthcare professionals are more likely to commit fraud against
older people because they are mere naïve.
Officials hope increasing the awareness of insurance fraud will encourage
consumers to use the South Carolina Insurance Fraud Hotline to report cases to
the Attorney General's Insurance Fraud Division. The law states, if you suspect
someone has committed insurance fraud you are obligated to report the crime.
You are not obligated to reveal your identity when reporting a crime.
Insurance fraud is a serious felony. The penalties for insurance fraud has
increased over the years, and it continues to increase. Insurance frauders
deprive citizens of their rights. It is very important for South Carolina to
reduce its acts of insurance fraud.
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Insurance Fraud: Crimes &
Cover-ups
by Shannon Smoak
Branchville High School
Insurance fraud is hurting South Carolina citizens everyday. Average
American households pay an average of $1000 as a result of insurance fraud.
Misrepresenting facts or over exaggerating the truth on insurance forms can
lead to fraud and cause big problems — along with charges.
Over 600 cases of insurance fraud are reported each year in South Carolina.
Since May of 1995, when the South Carolina Attorney General's Insurance Fraud
began prosecuting insurance fraud cases, over $4 million has been collected.
The average South Carolina pays of $1000 a year. The increase in insurance
premiums, cost of goods and services, and taxes are a result of insurance
fraud.
One in every four people thinks that it is all ri8ght to exaggerate a false
insurance claim. Faking injuries, lying on health insurance applications and
fraudulent stolen items are all examples of insurance fraud. To fake health
injuries someone may hit their friend with a board or brick to make them look
like they have serious injuries. After having serious diseases or illnesses, a
person may lie about their past health status. People will even take the risk
of taking their own car and driving it off somewhere to burn it. Later, they
would claim it stolen.
In 2003, Governor Mark Sanford declared September 22-26 Insurance Fraud
Awareness Week in South Carolina. The Attorney General and South Carolina
Insurance News Service announced an initiative to try and stop insurance fraud.
They also wanted to inform the public to make them aware of the results of
insurance fraud, and they wanted to increase public participation in acts to
stop insurance fraud.
Insurance companies send out Special Investigative Units (SIU's) when they
suspect a fraudulent insurance claim. Those who commit insurance fraud are
stealing from the citizens of South Carolina. They are cheating consumers, the
state, and the insurance industry out of millions of dollars.
Ten percent of all auto, home, and business insurance claims are fraudulent.
People make up stories and false claims just to get their greedy little hands
on money. Money isn't everything, and lying to get it just isn't worth it.
There have been many outrageous stores and tales of insurance fraud. One man
hit his friend with a board to fake injuries from a staged motorcycle accident.
Another man claimed that his car just all of a sudden burst into flames. A
woman from Anderson County claimed that her husband was dead. Later, she even
faked her own death. Afterwards, her husband and she were both discovered alive
and health. A man claimed that over $100,000.00 worth of satellite dishes were
stolen from his backyard. Upon investigation, the only think that was in his
backyard was a lawnmower.
Many hotlines have been started to help those who have committed insurance
fraud and those who know of someone who has done such a thing. "In 1997, the
Insurance Fraud Division of the South Carolina Attorney General's office, in
conjunction with Professional Insurance Agents of South Carolina and the South
Carolina Insurance News Service, started an Insurance Fraud Hotline for
reporting insurance fraud. "We need the help of the general public to fight
fraud in our state," said Allison Dean Wright, Executive Director, South
Carolina Insurance News Service. "We all pay for insurance fraud. It's time to
fight back by reporting it."
Remember: Insurance fraud is a CRIME!
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"Dial 'F' for Fraud"
by
Kimberly Ott
Branchville High School
A man sets his car on fire. Another burns his family home on Christmas Day.
A woman repeatedly claims to be dead. One man goes as far as to have his friend
hit him with a board. Why have these people committed these seemingly senseless
acts? They wanted to collect on their insurance policies.
These incidents, while certainly extreme are just a sample of the many cases of
insurance fraud. The crimes occurred within four years of each other in our own
beloved state of smiling faces and beautiful places, South Carolina. The
absurdity of the above examples earned them a spot on "South Carolina Top Ten
Most Outrageous Cases of Insurance Fraud: for the years 1999-2003, along with a
dishonest chiropractor and a nursing home scam. But insurance fraud need not be
so outrageous. An act as simple as misrepresenting facts on an insurance
application qualifies as insurance fraud.
Insurance fraud, simply put, is reporting inaccurate information to insurance
companies in order to collect money. Some common types of insurance fraud
include: reporting inaccurate medical information, exaggerating the value of
stolen objects faking injuries, and staging accidents. No longer the rarity it
once was, insurance fraud today is as common-place as a walk in the park and
almost as acceptable. According to the South Carolina Attorney General's
Office, "One in every 3 Americans believes it is 'all right' to pad claims to
make up for premiums paid in previous years when they had no claims." The
office also states that at least ten percent of insurance claims are fraudulent
or highly inflated. It is falsely believed that no one pays a price for
information fraud. In reality, the American people pay.
The average American household ends up paying $1,030 more each year as a result
of insurance fraud. Citizens must pay more money for health, auto, and
homeowner's insurance to make up for the money insurance companies get cheated
out of. Americans paid $96 billion dollars for insurance fraud in 1999. Add in
the consequential higher costs of goods and services, and that sum could jump
up as much as $530 billion dollars higher. Fraudulence is rampant throughout
the United States, and South Carolina is no exception.
Fraudulence is committed by people of all backgrounds, and people of all
backgrounds are affected. Those guilty of committing fraudulent acts have
essentially stolen from the insurance companies as well as the general public.
South Carolinians are eating the cost of that stolen money. They are having to
compensate for their fellow citizen's lies. Many feel helpless and at the
expense of the dishonest. But residents can do something about insurance
fraud.
The phone number for the South Carolina Insurance Fraud Hotline is
1-888-95-FRAUD. The hotline is open at all hours, and callers do not have to
reveal their identities. Depending on the circumstances, those charged guilty
of insurance fraud can serve up to five years in a state prison as well as pay
fines as high as $50,000. Reporting insurance fraud can help stop the most
costly white collar crime in America. If we work together to end insurance
scams, fraudulence may one day become a crime of the past.
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South Carolina — Fraud Free
by Jessica Harvey
York Junior High School
The Fortune 500 is one of the most esteemed list in the United States,
displaying the 500 most successful companies in the nation. Companies on this
list rake in billions o9f dollars every year. In 2002, the top companies on
this list were Wal*Mart, Exxon-Mobil, General Motors and insurance fraud? As
absurd as it sounds, if insurance fraud was to become a company, it would not
only make the Fortune 500 list, but it would land among the top fifteen.
The peculiar thing is people who commit insurance fraud, now considered a
felony by most states, think they are somehow gaining money by not having to
pay it, but the truth is, an average American household pays approximately
$1,300 due to insurance fraud annually. Are "frauders" truly gaining?
With 85 billion dollars, the amount of money insurance fraud costs America as a
whole every year, new schools, which are in dire need across our country, could
be built. At the beginning of the school year, a new high school was inquired
about in my town. Since the blueprints were so expensive, inhabitants of York
had to vote on the school with only a vague idea of what it might look like.
This turned the citizens against the idea, so that meant no new school.
The citizens in my town have also had to see orange cones with the label,
"Pennies for Progress" all over our roads for about a year now. Obviously there
hasn't been enough pennies because we have certainly seen no progress.
Why should the people of my town have to pay for our new roads and schools? Why
isn't the government helping? Maybe they aren't helping because they are so
worried about the money our nation is losing in insurance fraud.
When we look at all of the opportunities this money could have been spent on,
it may make us wonder why we haven't put a stop to this simple problem earlier.
The trouble is, this problem isn't simple at all. Insurance fraud is an
extremely broad category. Deceptions dealing with your auto policy all the way
to faking a serious accident are classified under insurance fraud.
It may also be getting harder to stop people from committing this felony
because Americans are becoming more tolerant of this unlawful activity. Several
surveys have been conducted only to find that somewhere between 30 and 40
percent of Americans consider it acceptable to swindle on insurance claims.
As disturbing as this figure sounds, there is another aspect that is more
alarming. This factor is the actual false claims South Carolinians have tried
to get away with. In one case, a woman claiming she was dead was almost given
$400,000. There have also been several cases in South Carolina in which people
take advantage of elderly people in order to receive insurance money.
Through this paper I have learned a lot, but there is still one question I
have. How did South Carolina turn into an area in which people lie to, steal
from, and take advantage of others? This question may never be answered, but
there is one thing I am sure of. As long as companies such as the S.C. Attorney
General's Office, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, the National Insurance
Crime Bureau, and the S.C. Insurance Fraud Investigators continue to work on
educating students such as myself, and punishing this transgression, I am
convinced that South Carolina will one day return to being fraud free.
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