This story is an all too common type of fraud. And despite it being incredibly easy to determine, people do it over and over again. Purchasing insurance after an accident and claiming that you had insurance before the accident is fraudulent. Here is the story.
Beth Ross who is 50 years of age and Kylie Smail, 21 years of age both from Wheeling, West Virginia, were charged by the state attorney general’s office with attempted theft by deception and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.
It all started when Smail was involved in a vehicle accident on July 17, 2018. She called her mother Beth Ross who then contacted her insurance company and obtained a new policy 10 minutes after the crash took place (according to allegations).
Smail tried to report that she was in the parking lot of Washington Crown Center when she obtained the policy online before the accident took place that day. This, of course, wasn’t true.
Both Ross and Smail later allegedly admitted to lying about having coverage before the accident.
Ross told investigators that she allowed her insurance to lapse a month before the accident and stated her daughter had no knowledge of this.
Thoughts on Purchasing Insurance After An Accident (Then Claiming They Had it Before the Accident)
As I alluded to at the beginning, this happens all the time. People gamble and go without insurance and then something happens. Then the uninsured person purchases insurance and then this is when the trouble begins.
Sometimes they will wait a few days to report an accident after they purchase insurance (if no one else is involved). In cases like this, they will try to get insurance immediately after the accident.
But make no mistake, the insurance companies and the investigators they hire are not stupid. They will investigate and insurance companies will go after offenders.
What usually happens is I (the claims investigator) will speak to police, review the accident report, talk to other parties involved, interview the insured, pull phone records, and account for times and dates of everyone. This isn’t a planned fraud so it is really hard to prepare for things you can’t control. And typically when the insured sees that they are about to be caught in fraud they disappear and withdraw their claim. In other cases, they will continue with the lie and then the insurance company goes after them.
When accidents happen phone calls are made, police are called, photos are taken etc… All these different things have a time stamp. And if you are lying, the timestamps will prove it.
This type of insurance fraud isn’t unique. Someone who attempts to pull it off isn’t fooling anyone.
So if you feel tempted to lie to the insurance company, I would think again. A criminal record is not worth it.
Until next time
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