Insurance Fraud. Is it Really Ever Worth it?

"All right," Stan said, putting his head in his hands on the roof of the blue Dodge Stratus. "This is the last silly straw with this damn car." Stan's ride gave him more trouble than it was worth financially. He had already put more money in maintenance of the car that he paid to buy it in the first place. "Are you going to help me or not?" He asked Phillip, his good friend of 7 years. Phillip looked stoically. "All right, I'm in." He finally says. Stan and Phillip then proceeded to push the blue Dodge Stratus over the moss-covered cliff into the marshy valley below. Stan filed an insurance claim on the blue Dodge Status that he and his friend pushed into the drink. He used a bogus story involving an accident between himself and a fictional person. Stan thought it was a better financial decision to commit auto insurance fraud than to actually keep his car. Stan could face criminal and civil penalties for his actions, but there is a chance he will never be caught.

"Ok, you can put on your clothes on, Marty," said Dr. Shermann has he wrote frantically on his palm pilot, only half-paying attention to his patient. "I'll go get your bill and your prescription and you'll be ready to go." He put the pen away on his palm pilot and closed the door behind him. Dr. Shermann had Marty, a 72-year old resident of Orlando, come in for a regular check-up that Friday. The doctor managed to keep him waiting for three hours while he made phone calls to his wife and to check on his horse races.That afternoon he diagnosed Marty with adult attention deficit disorder, allergic asthma, social phobia, and high cholesterol, in addition to addressing his already-existing arthritis condition. Marty's bill for this alleged "regular checkup" was something to the tune of $1,700.39. Luckily, Marty was insured - the insurance company will take the hit for the doctor's cutting corners, wasting time, and overmedicating his patient. The doctor may have been economically gouging insurance companies for years. Maybe this was the first time he ever did it and it was just because he plain-old didn't like the patient and wanted to give him a hard time. Maybe he will never do it again, who knows. At any rate, there is a chance that Dr. Shermann will never be caught.

"Darling, this chandelier makes me sick." Cleo had her I-just-ate-a-lemon face on, because she knew it annoyed Chuck. "You know what, I'm tired of the whole entry way to the new house," she had one hand on her hip, and the other hand crumpled in the air. She still had the ate-a-lemon face on - she looked like she just picked up something disgusting and tasted it. She finally turned around and walked out of the room. "Whatever," thought Chuck, relieved that Cleo was done complaining. At five o'clock in the afternoon, the last thing he wanted to do was argue with his wife about the way the house looked. After a moment of silence Cleo came out of her studio with Chuck's 1-iron club. She stood in the middle of the room with it in her right hand and finally said, out loud, to no one in particular, "I have an idea." Chuck put his hand over his mouth. Cleo proceeded to use the club to completely demolish the chandelier, a 3-foot china-case, 4 wall fixtures, and knock off a door-frame. "We'll tell the insurance company that some people trashed our house, they will give us cash to get better stuff for this room." Chuck turned on the television and tried not to think about the fact that he and Cleo had just embarked on a homeowners' insurance fraud scam.

Insurance fraud is a serious civil and criminal offense. It occurs when a person intentionally misrepresents facts to an insurance company and then profits from his or her deceit. Not every accusation by an insurance company involves people like these, who have consciously attempted to take money that they do not deserve. Some people are scoundrels who think they have such excessive swagger as to make them immune from being charged with committing insurance fraud. However, some people are innocent, make honest mistakes, or just find themselves blind-sided by the consequences of complicated law. If the government or an insurance company is accusing you of fraud, you must seek representation immediately. In Orlando, Florida, The Umansky law firm has been defending those accused of insurance fraud for years.

If you have been accused of insurance fraud and require the services of one of our attorneys, please call us at 407-228-3838 or click the "contact us" button at the bottom of this page.