Wow! Now this is a serious discussion. I'm not sure if my opinion will be of any value, but here goes.
Gene Anderson and Jim Fournier are friends of mine. We worked together on the Benenson v. Blattmachr case featured on my home page.
I cannot give an educated opinion on an industry-wide percentage of P&C agents whose business is most often unethical and/or not in the policyholder's best interest. I can say that around 39.6% of all life insurance agents are lying, cheating, thieves because I've been investigating them for nearly 15 years and people like Gene Anderson and Jim Fournier have paid a great deal of money for my opinion.
Lori and Ohio have made some very valid points, as have you Fk, so I will not attempt to "pick-apart" anyone's posts.
I can tell you that in the time I was with the CA DOI, I saw many insurance companies and thier agents prosecuted. However, being that my forte was Life Insurance Fraud, I didn't spend a great deal of time on the P&C side of the house. I also saw the State Attorney General's office prosecute a number of companies and agents as well.
I believe that Fk asked if anyone was policing and/or prosecuting insurance companies for fraud. The answer is YES. My cases alone have cost the insurance industry around $800 million and, if I were to count the work I've done with various firms, the total would be in excess of $2 billion. I'd like to think people like us (including all of you) will make a difference some day. Honestly though, I wouldn't hold my breath.
When it comes to things like vanishing premium fraud, piggy-backing, churning, short-selling, premium misdirection, etc., I've literally re-written the book on these issues. In fact, the first 7 chapters were sent to my editor yesterday.
If I can be of any help , feel free to contact me directly.
Mark _________________ Please feel free to go to my website at www.markcolbert.com or, if you have a specific question, you can email me directly. I hope I can answer any questions you might have. If not, I can certainly find an answer right away.
FK, did that answer your question? If not please respond back as Mark will be getting emails from this thread now...thanks so much Mark! _________________ Have you been helped by a poster? Do you want to show your appreciation? YOU CAN !! Just simply click on the donate button and send them some coin!
Here is one specific case I found that actually had a felony conviction included. I took the name of the person off, but it can be found at that site.
Order Number: 061303
Date of Order: 12/15/2006
Order Final In: December
Action Taken: $57,902 restitution; General Life, Accident and Health License and General Property and Casualty License revoked
Violation: Felony conviction directly related to the business of insurance; Engaged in fraudulent or dishonest acts or practices
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2008 1:53 pm Post subject: insurance
'FK'....I agree with Lori, about 'proof' ( I believe she was asking about). Also....if this IS going on with different insurance companies, don't you hink 'we' have an obligation to know the NAME'S of the insurance companies involved?
BTW - The OP quotes an article written by a plaintiff attorney: "For the last eight years Mr. Stanzler has concentrated in representing policyholders in insurance coverage litigation and bad faith claims against insurance companies." It's unknown where the information came from in the article (no studies are mentioned).
Side note: I love this entry on the website:
"Poor State Farm. First they Stoenwall the Katrina victims on the whether it was wind or water that wiped out homes in Missippi. Then they get spanked by a federal court judge. Then they cae in and settle for millions with a group of homeowners and decide to stop wwriting new policies in California. Altogether, a sad by predictable course of action. "
_________________ Have you been helped by a poster? Do you want to show your appreciation? YOU CAN !! Just simply click on the donate button and send them some coin!
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2008 2:42 am Post subject: insurance
TCOP....'proffessionals' SUPPOSELY wrote the article ( you wrote in your thread)? Several spelling errors, as you said. Looks like an elementary school child wrote the article. LOL
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:13 am Post subject: fraud
when posting insurance news to my blog each day, i normally come across fraud items either directed at the industry or within. have been covering the industry for several years now and it never ceases to amaze me what some folks will do to make a quick buck. like to think most, however, are honest people. _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 7:00 am Post subject: Welcome to help us out!
Hi davet.
Its truly good to see you here!
You are most welcome to share your experiences with our insurance community...who knows, may be you'd end up helping a lot of them!
If you come across any fraudulent activities, please share them at the Fraud section of our forums..I'm sure it would be of great help! (nothing much...just keep posting following the forum guidelines => http://www.ampminsure.org/termsofuse/)
Also, if you come across some interesting Global Insurance news do share them at the News section. The community is already looking forward to people like you who have gained in enough expertise with time!
lakemen,
happy to pass along the news that i come across. i do freelance work for some insurance outlets (mostly media) and fraud unfortunately is a major issue. i normally have more than one of those items each day that i can add to my insurance news blog. the sad part is that many investigation units have their hands tied when it comes to money and manpower.
dave t. _________________ Register Now to have your Insurance queries solved.
Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 10:32 am Post subject: insurance
Our insurance companies are suppose to be there when we need them..ya know? SOO many commercials advertise "we're there to help: we're on your side." Seems like 'catch 22's and loopholes prevent us from getting what we deserve.
The insurance industry considers all of it's customers to be thieves because they have a whole division dedicated to prevention of Fraud?
So because my bank has a security guard in the lobby to deter robberies they must assume that I'm a bank robber right?
And since most retail stores now have camera's to deter theft the retail industry clearly percieves all it's customers as shoplifters.
And what is this business about insurance being a defective product because it turns it's customers into anti-social cheats and thieves? Because it's possible for the dishonest to defraud an insurance company then the company is encouraging fraud by selling it's product.
So, again I guess we need to stop the banking industry from turning us into a nation of bank robbers and the retail industry need to learn it's lesson about corrupting society and turning us all into shoplifters by putting all those enticing items right out there on a shelf. And what about those newspaper companies with their vending machines. You put your money in and they just trust you to take only one paper, but since their evil machine gives you the option of taking all the papers then the industry is clearly responsible for rising crime rates.
I also just want to mention that I see it as very rare for an insurance company to actually commit "fraud" against an insured.
Not to say there are no "bad apples" in our industry for sure, however most of the examples above are actually cases of an insurance agent's negligence or criminal activity. I think that's why the OP is having trouble with finding examples of a Company being prosecuted for fraud.
Just my 2 cents, but thanks for posting a little inflammatory propaganda to get my blood pumping and my sense of humor firing.
Well put Fishman, and welcome to the community if I haven't welcomed you so far! There are a few threads/posters that came along that have, well let's just say not very good opinions of ins. companies and adjusters in particular....thanks again for the great post... _________________ Have you been helped by a poster? Do you want to show your appreciation? YOU CAN !! Just simply click on the donate button and send them some coin!
The problems with agents committing fraud can usually be linked to ignorance, greed, or apathy. Do you guys remember the raucous Larry King made in regards to the life settlements he participate in or how about the latest show discussing Annuities this past Sunday.
Unfortunately, there are many bad apples in this industry, which doesn't help the public image of insurance agents. On the other hand, the good agents do out way the bad agents, and I feel fortunate to be on the good side. Let the lawyers take care of the unethical agents and things will balance out. _________________ You can catch me here: insurancesaleslibrary.blogspot.com
