From: deputyfife23x@gmail.com   
      
   The most terrifying acts of life insurance fraud    
      
   NOV 02, 2015 | BY WARREN S. HERSCH    
      
      
    Life insurers remain on "high alert" for signs of foul play, particularly the   
   most common types of life insurance fraud.    
   Life insurers remain on "high alert" for signs of foul play, particularly the   
   most common types of life insurance fraud.    
   An individual dies of slow poisoning from a toxic substance inserted daily   
   into his evening drink. A premeditated killing is staged to look like an   
   ambushing of the deceased victim by a burglar. And a scuba diver fakes her   
   disappearance off the coast of    
   the Bahamas, leaving behind only a few documents to identify her.    
      
   A common thread in these scenarios is the element of death, plus something   
   else: In each case, a life insurance policy beneficiary stands to reap (in   
   respect to the last, in connivance with the insured) a payout on a life   
   insurance contract.      
      
   The illustrations are also among the most common types of life insurance   
   fraud. But intrigues that end in death -- real or staged -- aren't the only   
   scams that worry top execs at major insurers.    
      
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   Also of growing concern to the industry are cons engineered to close on a   
   policy sale. In some cases unethical agents convince unsuspecting seniors to   
   replace a perfectly good life policy or annuity with a new contract that pays   
   a high commission. Or    
   agents will inflate an applicant's net worth to sell an unnecessarily large   
   policy.    
      
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   5 notorious, homicidal tales of life insurance fraud    
      
   These real-life horror stories involve people who murdered (or attempted to   
   murder) others, largely to reap the life insurance benefits.    
   Producers also have pitched and sold health insurance policies that turned out   
   to be life insurance contracts. (Evidently the victims, most of them seniors,   
   weren't paying close attention to literature intended to conceal the purpose   
   of the policy.)    
      
   In still other cases, applicants misrepresent their income replacement needs,   
   insurable interest or heath status to get through underwriting with a   
   favorable outcome. Often, for example, policy applicants lie when asked if   
   they're smokers or have been    
   hospitalized for a health condition.    
      
   Whatever the cause or motivation, scams are costing insurers staggering   
   amounts. The Coalition against Insurance Fraud conservatively estimates that   
   fraud across product lines at $80 billion annually. Property and casualty   
   fraud is pegged at $32 billion    
   each year.      
      
   In the life space, losses are also "in the billions," but precise figures are   
   hard to come by. One reason: life insurance fraud tends to go underreported in   
   the industry.   
      
   "Many instances of fraud are stealth scams -- nobody knows they happened,"   
   says Jim Quiggle a communications director for the coalition. "The insurers   
   often prefer to settle cases behind the scenes with family members.      
      
   "Many life insurance scams do get reported to the state fraud bureaus," he   
   adds. "But you don't see on a national level enough omnibus reporting to know   
   how widespread life scams are and which types are the most endemic."    
      
   To be sure, life insurers are constantly on "high alert" for signs of foul   
   play. That's especially true for the most widespread type of fraud: a policy   
   beneficiary murdering the insured (typically a spouse) to collect the death   
   benefit.    
      
   This is true even for policies with low face amounts. Case in point: Sue   
   Basso, who romanced and lured Buddy Basso (a man with the intellect of an   
   8-year-old) into marrying her. She thereafter bought a $15,000 life policy --   
   one with a clause raising the    
   payout to $60,000 if Buddy, the insured, died a violent death -- and named   
   herself as beneficiary. She then recruited gang members to bludgeon him to   
   death.    
      
   More typically, the payouts are much higher. In November of 2014, Colorado   
   authorities charged Harold Henthorn with murdering his second wife, Toni   
   Henthorn, by pushing her off a cliff in September of 2012 -- the date falling   
   on the couple's 12th wedding    
   anniversary. The alleged motive: to cash in on her $4.5 million in life   
   insurance benefits.      
      
   "A combustible combination of greed, large dollar payoffs and resentment can   
   lead to a murder of a spouse or close family relation," said Quiggle. "And   
   many of the perpetrators think this is an easy crime to get away with."    
      
   That's evidently also the belief among people who fake their deaths, of which   
   examples abound. Exhibit A: Raymond Roth, a Long Island man who in 2012   
   attempted to defraud his life insurance company with the aid of his son   
   Jonathan. Less than a month    
   after the son told authorities Roth was missing in the breakers off Jones   
   Beach (which spurred a massive and expensive search), a traffic cop stopped   
   the father for speeding in South Carolina.      
      
   Often, such frauds are committed by foreign nationals living in the U.S. who   
   stage their death during a trip to their country of origin. In many   
   third-world countries, says Quiggle, it's easy to get an underpaid bureaucrat   
   overseas to issue falsified    
   documents like death certificates by paying a bribe.    
      
   In such cases, life insurers often will hire outside investigators who   
   specialize in the country of origin. The largest multinational insurers --   
   AIG, MetLife, Prudential Financial, among others -- may also be able to tap   
   internal expertise to validate    
   death claims.      
      
   When there's reason for suspicion, says Quiggle, a payout on a policy will   
   generally be withheld pending a detailed inquiry, starting with questions   
   about policy beneficiary's financial situation and relationship to the   
   insured. Evidence, for example,    
   that the beneficiary was facing financial difficulties, had a troubled   
   marriage with the insured or aspired to a better life are sure to send up red   
   flags at a carrier.    
      
   But it's the front-line agents who are best positioned to thwart potential   
   scams before a policy is issued. Quiggle says producers need to be familiar   
   with the warning signs and, in suspicious cases, alert the insurer.    
      
   "Agents need to look at policies critically," says Quiggle. "If someone on a   
   low income is trying to buy a life policy with a huge payout, they need to ask   
   why? Or why is a parent taking out a $500,000 life insurance policy on a   
   child?    
      
      
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