Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:03 pm Post subject: Weymouth man convicted in Insurance Fraud
Now for the flip side of my previous post about the insurance agent defrauding his clients. This news story from yesterday is just the OPPOSITE. In this case a young man defrauds the insurance company by using a dead person name to get cheaper insurance rates. Geesh. Check this one out:
Quote:
A Weymouth man was convicted today of using a dead person's name to get cheaper motor vehicle insurance from one company and lying about his driving record to another, the state attorney general's office said today.
Christopher A. Falco, 25, was convicted of larceny, perjury and insurance fraud in Norfolk Superior Court. In April 2004, prosecutors said, he used the name of a deceased individual with a good driving record who was eligible for senior citizen discount to get a nearly $2,000 reduction in his car insurance. After the insurance company discovered the inaccuracies and re-rated the policy to the correct amount, Falco canceled his insurance and applied for a policy from another company, prosecutors said in a statement.
On the second application, Falco failed to disclose his driving record and the money he owed the first company. The insurance companies referred the matter to the Insurance Fraud Bureau, prosecutors said.
Falco was sentenced to serve six months in the Norfolk county jail. The rest of his two-year sentence was suspended.
I think that is sort of taking "saving money on insurance cost" to the extreme but you know I will try to follow the news on the insurance agent who defrauded his clients and compare the sentences and see who gets the biggest punishment.
I am sure there will be many opinions on which of these two fraudsters were the worst but in my opinion the insurance agent in the previous article should get a much tougher sentence because he was leaving several individuals without insurance and could have possibly had the potential to financially destroy any of them if they would have had a serious accident in which they got sued.
In this case while not right and clearly fraud, this case involves only three entities. The man attempting the fraud, the insurance company and an already dead man.
_________________ A simple smile, or one kind word can often times give a flicker of hope to someone who's lite has all but gone out.
Christopher A. Falco, 25, was convicted of larceny, perjury and insurance fraud in Norfolk Superior Court. In April 2004, prosecutors said, he used the name of a deceased individual with a good driving record who was eligible for senior citizen discount to get a nearly $2,000 reduction in his car insurance.
This is what you said:
Quote:
In this case while not right and clearly fraud, this case involves only three entities. The man attempting the fraud, the insurance company and an already dead man.
The courts evidently disagreed with you since the customer was convicted of insurance fraud.
I am concerned as to why you think "fraud" is much worse when it is committed by an insurance agent than when it is committed by an insurance customer. Fraud is fraud.
Both cases are just terrible and this is exactly why insurance rates go up and down like a roller coaster.
Insurance professionals must take responsibility for their actions, but the consumer has a responsibility to insure that they get what they are paying for. If you deposited $500 in the bank and when you received your bank statement showing the deposit as $50, wouldn't you call the bank?
You have another post about the insurance agent and I will respond to that post if I can find it again. Why did they get separated?
Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 4:24 pm Post subject: Hi Insurance Maze
IE:
Quote:
The courts evidently disagreed with you since the customer was convicted of insurance fraud.
I probably was not clear in my opinion. I think they both were wrong and yes as you point out the court convicted the man in that post already. But the insurance agent in the previous post has not been to court yet, only charged.
So my post was that I thought "while both were fraud" the agent should be sentenced to a much harsher sentence based on the severity of the fraud. So was not simply because he was an "agent" but because of the difference in the amount of people affected.
Hopefully others will weigh in on this. I think this is an excellent opportunity to see how opinions differ between individuals on a similar incident of fraud and committed on each side of the fence you might say.
Thanks jumping in on this one. _________________ A simple smile, or one kind word can often times give a flicker of hope to someone who's lite has all but gone out.
Don't these companies do background checks on people? A quick search into some records would bring up "DECEASED" in a second.
The gall to use a dead man to reduce his rates, I bet that had him spinning in his grave. This could've caused issues for the family if they found that a man had car insurance despite being legally dead. His family could've wound up arrested and questioned to his whereabouts and all that. _________________ I have a new personal crusade. I'm going to hunt down the people who have strong opinions on subjects they don't understand. Then I'll bop them with this cardboard tube.- Dogbert
I ain't a legal expert, take what I say with a grain of salt.
That is sad that people would use a deceased man to get car insurance, LOL, I guess on a lighter side of things he would not be presenting any claims right? LOL.
