Insurance Fraud and Insurance Crime

Insurance fraud and insurance crime can take many shapes and forms. Insurance fraud is essentially the crime of providing false information to an insurance company about a claim in order to convince the company to pay for a loss or damage. Insurance fraud takes place when an insured makes a false claim for damaged or lost property under an insurance policy. An example might be a homeowner making a claim for stolen property for a fictitious robbery. False insurance claims often happen following natural disasters such as hurricanes or floods. Homeowners or property who place false claims for property damage or loss that never occurred commit insurance fraud. Insurance fraud is often found when there is a loss due to arson. This type of fraud is a common type of white collar crime.

Insurance crime and insurance fraud claims are common with automobile insurance by individuals who claimed their cars were stolen in order to get out from under the payments and make some money from the claim. Miami attorney Ken Swartz has the experience and expertise to handle your insurance fraud or insurance crime case.

Personal Injury Scams

A growing area of insurance crime and insurance fraud involving automobile insurance are the false claims by plaintiffs who claim to have suffered physical injuries following an accident in order to collect money. In recent years there has been an explosion false injury insurance claims primarily resulting from Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage which is mandatory for drivers in Florida and other states. This offense had been traditionally prosecuted by state low enforcement, but the problem has becomes so widespread that it attracted the attention of federal law enforcement. There is extensive insurance fraud and abuse in the P.I.P field.

An example of this insurance scam was exposed by a 1998 F.B.I. investigation of insurance fraud involving staged and nonexistent accidents in the Tampa area called operation “Misplaced Trust.” The FBI set up and undercover business which posed as an “advance funding company” that would advance money to individuals who expect to receive insurance settlements on bodily injury claims, in exchange for the right to collect a greater amount of money upon settlement. The undercover advance funding business was approached by certain individuals that were involved in staged accidents. These accident victims would go to medical clinics run by individuals who supposedly treated the victims and then billed the insurance companies for their treatment. The victims would be paid by the clinics to give the insurance investigators false information about the accident.

The federal statute used to prosecute insurance fraud is the mail fraud statute or the wire fraud statute. It is a federal crime to use the mail in any way to advance a scheme to defraud or to obtain money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, false representations. Defrauding a victim means to deprive someone of something of value by trick, deceit or overreaching.

If you or someone you know has been arrested, is being investigated, or is accused of committing any type of insurance fraud or insurance crime, you need a Florida Bar Board Certified Criminal Trial Lawyer on your side. Ken Swartz has the experience and expertise in criminal law to handle your problem. As one of the top Miami criminal defense attorneys in Florida, he is prepared for your defense.