Trust me, you don’t even want to go there if you are considering the ways you could commit insurance fraud
to trick your carrier into forking over more money.
These insane insurance fraud stories will may you glad you’re prepared, and playing it safe and honest
with your life insurance policy:
The Aggravated Arsonist
One of the most common ways of committing insurance fraud is by setting items, or even buildings, on fire
to make it appear as an accident in order to collect benefits from an insurance policy. This already
dishonorable tactic took a horrific turn when a young mother set her house on fire, purposely leaving her two
young children inside to burn. In 2014, Angela Garcia of Cleveland, Ohio took out a $40,000 renter’s
insurance policy on her home just weeks before the fire coincidentally took place. While the fire originally
was assumed to be accidental, suspicions arouse when the mother appeared to have no sadness or remorse over
the death of her children, and her story did not lineup correctly with the remains. Garcia claimed that a
candle was knocked over and started the fire, and that she had to slide down her roof after climbing through
a second-story window to escape. However, she had barely any smoke in her lungs, and if she did escape out of
the window, she passed her kids and left them inside. It was confirmed that this was no accident after
finding that her three year old daughter was tied up with the cord of the blinds to keep her from escaping
the fire. After her conviction, she later admitted that she did in fact start two fires within the house
because she wanted to pursue other plans, without having to worry about her children. This murderous mother
is serving the rest of her life in prison for this ferocious felony.
Major Slip Up
A mother and daughter duo have perfected the believable excuse that the 72-year-old mother has taken a
fall that has caused physical injury. While this is a common occurrence for elderly who have a hard time
walking and recovering from rough falls, this shady team had set up over 65 fake falls around the Milwaukee
area. The older woman, Kimball Lewis, would go into an aisle, pour some liquid on the ground, and then walk
away. A few moments later, she would return, wipe her shoe in the liquids and lie on the ground. Her
daughter, Michelle Taylor, would then come in to the aisle to find her mother on the ground and fetch help.
The duo reaped in over $200,000 in insurance claims, along with the help of medical student, Debra Woody, who
helped create fake documents proving the injuries of the woman. As of 2011, the team was broken up when both
Taylor and Woody were prosecuted for separate insurance fraud claims, landing them both in jail. Lewis,
however, has yet to be convicted, but she is laying low after her daughter’s conviction.
Fake Death, Real Punishment
In March of 2015, businessman form Jacksonville was finally arrested after faking his death in Venezuela
two years prior. Jose Lantigua, 62, was arrested on charges of fraud while he was driving with his wife in
North Carolina. The investigation had been building for over a year, after the insurance company got
suspicious that the man, who had a down spiraling company going into debt, had faked his death while on
vacation in Venezuela. The information supporting the insurance claim and the fake death, were all very
unclear, so the investigation was postponed until the police figured out where Lantigua was, and whether or
not his wife was aware of the case. One the couple was spotted together, Lantigua was arrested and his wife
was investigated. The case has yet to go to trial, but if proven guilty, Lantigua could face years, possibly
even the rest of his life in prison due to the faulty death claim that brought him $9 million in death
benefits from several insurance companies.
Manipulative Man-HANDlers
A longtime “friend” of a mentally-ill man, David Player and his acquaintance Gerald Hardin, took advantage
of the disabled man by convincing him to let them cut his hand off for money. They promised him a small
portion of the payment, if they cut his hand off to make it look like an accidental injury that happened
while Hardin was working his tree service job. Prior to the incident, Player took out multiple insurance
policies in the man’s name, with credit cards that he had secretly gotten. The two then tied the man to the
tree, then cut his hand off. They made a turnicate for him, and rushed him to the hospital. Surgeons tried to
reattach the hand, but failed, and the Player walked away with over $600,000 in claims that he partially
split with Hardin. The manipulated victim barely received any money, while Player supported his frivolous
lifestyle with the majority of the claim money. Eventually the claim was investigate due to the condition in
which the hand was cut. It was unnatural clean cut. Hardin eventually admitted guilty, saying he was on drugs
and that Player convinced him to do it. Player was eventually convicted on multiple accounts of fraud
charges, while Hardin received a lesser punishment.