Leave 'em Laughing
Yes, Virginia, there is a humorous side to insurance, if you look hard enough! Our intrepid researcher probed
the depths of cyberspace, polled insurance professionals around the world, and culled the annals of history to come up with the following true cases for your amusement. OK, so we won't win any comedy awards, but what do you expect from an insurance site?
Top Ten Insurance Frauds of 2003, from IBC
OK, insurance fraud isn't funny -- after all, it costs honest policyholders over $1 billion a year. But you can't help but laugh at some of the boneheaded scams and schemes of these would-be fraud artists, as reported by the Insurance Bureau of Canada's Canadian Coalition Against Insurance Fraud. Here are the latest Hall of Shame nominees.
Love Hurts: The cyclist was left bleeding and in serious pain after being hit by a car. It seemed like a clear-cut case at the time and he received $22,000 in compensation from his insurance company. Then his tangled web of lies began to unravel and the accident turned out to be not exactly accidental. The case ended up in court where the evidence included a toothpick and an overly helpful girlfriend. She was behind the wheel and had deliberately run into the man, gently she'd hoped. That's where the toothpick came in. The man had stuck it up his nose to get some blood and the insurance money flowing. Before the gavel came down, the defendant's lawyer, in an effort to win some sympathy for his client, pointed out that not all his
injuries were fake. In fact, he'd lost some teeth. He also lost the case and there's no word on whether his girlfriend still thinks he has a winning smile.
A Burning Lie: The evening began with a few too many drinks. The man then drove off in his pick-up truck and soon crashed into another vehicle. He fled the scene and managed to drive home where he cooked up a plan to avoid arrest and make a little money too. That night he drove the damaged truck to the outskirts of town and set it on fire. He told police his truck had been stolen and the thief must have caused the accident. He even had the audacity to file a theft claim with his insurance company. A better plan would have been to take a cab home. He now faces charges for both drunk driving and fraud.
Next Stop Jail: The city bus was stopped on the street when a truck rammed into its rear end. The impact wasn't that great in fact it was really just a minor fender bender but 44 passengers on board claimed to have been injured. It turned out that wasn't all they had in common. They had all been recruited to take the fateful bus ride with the promise of a $100 now and more down the road. It was a bold scheme on a big scale and the payoff would have been huge. The organizers planned to run the fake claims through the system and make a pile of money on bogus rehab therapy. Police, however, wondered how so many people could have been injured in such a minor accident. It defied the laws of physics not to mention the law of the land. The conspirators,
including the truck driver, now face a range of fraud charges and their next bus ride could well end at the prison gates.
The Very Bad Driver: His wife must have been a terrible driver. She was reversing out of their driveway, he told the insurance company, when she lost control and rammed into another vehicle which in turn injured three pedestrians. In a panic she put the car into drive, lurched forward and slammed into the garage. The car was a write off and the company paid $18,000. That was back in 1998. Another fast forward brings us to 2003 when an anonymous tip reopens the case. Investigators discover that the wife was in fact at work when the accident happened. The husband was fined and ordered to repay the money. Perhaps he should also have been ordered to take driving lessons.
The Party Girl: The young woman received a $250,000 cash settlement to compensate her for injuries suffered in a car accident. She bought a house and the party began. The good times rolled and a series of new boyfriends came through the door. Unfortunately none of them would prove to be much of a handyman. The wild parties took their toll on the house and soon it needed several expensive repairs. However, the money was now all gone and so along with her latest boyfriend she came up with a scheme to burn the house down and get a new one courtesy of her insurance company. Things started to go wrong when the fire set in the basement burned through a plastic water pipe and the spray extinguished the blaze. The house was saved but there was a lot of smoke damage so the woman filed a claim. When investigators found several items on her list of losses in local pawnshops they told her that the party was now well and truly over.
Blood Simple: When police arrived on the scene of the single vehicle accident, they found the wrecked car but there was no sign of the driver. They tracked down the owner who told them he had been drinking that night and, being a responsible citizen, had asked someone at the bar to drive his car home. Only he couldn't remember who it was. The police were suspicious and so were insurance investigators. They had a DNA sample from the car's airbag and invited the owner down to a lab to be tested to see if was a match. Instead, the man sent a friend to give a blood sample but his friend's photo and fingerprints revealed the ruse. Claim denied and charges were laid against both men.
Lost in Translation: The mastermind of what may have been one of the biggest fraud rings in Canadian history wore many hats. First, he was a recruiter who rounded up a total of 59 friends, family members and colleagues from work. Then he became their coach, teaching them how to stage a fake accident and dispatching them around town where they put their training to work. When it came time to file their claims, he became their legal advisor helping them deal with the paperwork and procedures. That wasn't difficult for him since he knew the system well; he was also a paralegal and an official court interpreter. In several cases he also acted as a translator for his recruits probably to ensure they got their story straight. He would eventually become even more familiar with the justice system in his final role as the defendant.
Grand Theft: It began with a fairly routine police report six years ago. The man reported that his Jeep Cherokee had been stolen from a mall parking lot. There was nothing particularly suspicious about the claim after all SUVs are a popular target for car thieves. The man received a $40,000 payment from the insurance company and the file was closed. It was reopened this year when an intrepid police officer discovered the Jeep wrapped in a tarpaulin inside a rental storage unit and it was in pristine condition. Before he called the owner with the good news, the officer did a little checking and discovered that the storage rental payments had been charged to the owner's credit card. A judge ordered the owner to repay the $40,000 and tacked on a $3,000 fine. An ad in the local paper now might read: 1996 Grand Cherokee, hardly driven, owner forced to sell.
Rubbed the Wrong Way: Massage therapy can be a very useful treatment for helping accident victims recover from their injuries. One massage therapy clinic, however, apparently discovered a miraculous new form of massage. The patient, it seems, didn't even have to show up. It was just as well since the healing hands of the masseuses were too busy filling out claim forms. Not everyone believes in miracles though and an anonymous tip led to a search warrant. Investigators didn't find any miracles either only a variation on an old scam. Patients would receive one session of treatment and the insurance company was billed for three. It also turned out the clinic had a very hands-on owner and he was slapped with a range of fraud charges.
Thin Air: You'd think an accountant would keep better track of his bills but maybe his office was too warm for him to think straight. He'd bought an air conditioner or at least that's what he said. The man who sold it to him had a different story. He said the accountant never paid for the machine so he went over to the accountant's house and took it back. The accountant, however, saw an opportunity and called his insurance company to file a claim for a stolen air conditioner. That's when he really began to feel the heat. Investigators didn't believe that an accountant couldn't produce a receipt. Claim denied.
return to top
TOP 10 CANADIAN INSURANCE FRAUDS FOR 2002 -- STRANGE BUT TRUE!
- Photo Finish: The man's basement had been flooded, causing extensive water damage. The insurance adjuster arrived on the scene and took some pictures for the record. The photos showed a television set, a stereo, and a few bags of clothes that would all have to be replaced. A contractor arrived the next day, and he also took some photos before starting the cleanup. But his pictures told a different story. There were now three television sets instead of one, two stereos -- not one -- and the bags of clothing had multiplied overnight to more than 40. When the adjuster and the contractor compared their photos, they told a story worth a thousand words, but the insurance company only needed two: Claim denied.
- Caught on Tape: It seemed like such a clever plan, and an Ottawa man couldn't resist boasting. He was going to arrange for the theft and vandalism of his own car, then collect on the insurance. He thought people would be impressed, so he told someone, who told someone else who, in turn, told the insurance company what was about to happen. Surveillance was arranged and the car owner was caught on videotape handing over the keys to a thief. The thief was then seen faking the theft by damaging the ignition system. He also removed the stereo and returned it to the owner. The owner pretended to be upset at his loss when he filed his claim. However, he became genuinely upset when he was told about the video and charged with fraud.
- Garden of Greed: The thieves must have been avid
gardeners. A woman said they'd cleaned out her garage and she produced a list of the stolen items that included a riding lawnmower, a garden tiller, chainsaws, shovels, and a whole range of tools. In all, it added up to a $10,000 claim. But she was a little vague about some of the details and descriptions, so the adjuster decided to dig a little deeper. Three neighbours told investigators that they had purchased some of the items from the woman. Her ex-husband told them he'd taken some of the tools with him when he left. And finally, it turned out a few of the things on her list never even existed. Following the investigation, the woman called the adjuster and said she wanted to discontinue her claim.
- Mom's and Dad's Idea: A man was going through a messy divorce and decided he needed some friendly female companionship. That's what the ad in the paper promised and apparently delivered. She proved to be a great friend, at least that's what her insurance claim said. She claimed she was helping him home after just meeting him in a bar because he'd had a little too much to drink. She also claimed she'd never been in his house before and that, as she came in the door, she didn't see the basement stairs when she tumbled down and broke her leg. She made a claim against the man and his liability insurer. However, the doctor who lived nearby and had come to treat the woman told a different story. He said he found her, scantily clad, in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. Other neighbours said they'd seen her at the house before the accident. The man confessed that he'd teamed up with his new friend to file a false claim and defraud his insurer, adding it was his parents' idea. There's no word on the reaction of his soon-to-be ex-wife.
- The Copycat: It was a run-of-the-mill accident. A man was moving into his new house when he dropped his television set and it tumbled down the basement stairs. He filed a claim and the insurance company replaced the television with a new one. He was obviously impressed with the prompt and efficient service, and he told a co-worker about it. She, too, was impressed, and a little while later, her husband called the insurance company to report that he'd dropped his television set and that he'd taken it to the dump. But the scheming couple had the misfortune of dealing with the same adjuster who had handled the other claim. He went to the dump and discovered that the make, model and serial number of their television set were the same as the one in the earlier case. Coincidence? He thought not.
- Blonde Imagination: Two brothers were camping in the mountains of British Columbia when they ran out of beer. They hopped into their Mustang and roared off to a local tavern to restock. While standing at the counter waiting for their order, they bragged to another customer about how fast they'd made the trip. But on the drive back, their luck ran out. The Mustang spun out of control at 150 km/h and crashed into a ditch. The two brothers were thrown out of the car and landed about 50 metres away. When the police arrived, one of the brothers told them that a blonde was driving the car and she ran away after the accident. The brothers filed insurance claims totaling $1.3 million. Perhaps they were imagining how they would spend it when investigators concluded that the mysterious blonde was also a product of their imaginations. Claim denied.
- Just the Fax: She must have been a very shy woman. Or perhaps she was just too distressed by the loss of her $72,000 diamond earrings to talk to the insurance adjuster. Whatever the case, she insisted that all contact with her be made by fax machine. Her husband, however, was a little more forthcoming. He told an investigator he knew nothing about the earrings, where they came from or where they went. His wife continued to pursue her claim until one day the insurance company received her final fax. It read: "Unless I hear from you shortly, I will expire my file". Her file is now archived in the no payment section.
- Goldfingers: The massage therapist had been busy, but an insurance adjuster thought she had been a little too busy. Investigators interviewed more than 40 of her patients, and reviewed the bills she had submitted to the insurer. It turned out she was offering a kind of two-for-one deal in reverse. The therapist was billing for two massage treatments for every one she actually performed. She was also billing for treating patients while they were out of the country and out of reach. In the end, the massage therapist was touched by the long arm of the law, ordered to make restitution, pay a fine and perform community service.
- Transmission Error: A mechanic had suffered a devastating accident. His back and legs were so badly injured that he claimed that he was unable to work. He applied for and received income replacement benefits. For 18 months, the cheques arrived until, one day, the insurance company received a tip. An investigator armed with a video camera was sent to investigate. Sure enough, the mechanic was seen changing the transmission of a car. A car transmission is a very heavy piece of equipment. However, the mechanic had no difficulty pulling out the old one and lifting a new one into place. When the gavel came down, he was convicted of fraud and ordered to repay almost $17,000 in benefits.
- Pull the Other One: The injury was real enough. A man's foot had been badly cut, and his story seemed plausible. He'd arrived home, he said, and was getting out of his car when a family member accidentally ran over his foot with a lawnmower. He submitted an accident benefit claim to cover medical expenses and lost income. An investigator went to the man's house and discovered the driveway had high curbs running down both sides. A tape measure and a little math revealed that the man's explanation was impossible unless he had a leg that was 10 feet long. The man withdrew his claim and went back to work without telling anyone what really happened to his foot.
return to top
TOP 10 CANADIAN INSURANCE FRAUDS OF 2000 – STRANGE BUT TRUE!
Crash Dummy: A driving instructor had been involved in a car accident. He said his injuries left him unable to drive, and therefore, unable to work, so he filed for accident benefits. But the adjuster noticed that the driving instructor wasn't responding to medical treatment, so he placed him under surveillance. The investigator discovered that the driving instructor was back on the road and had driven over 2,000 kilometres in just three weeks. One of his favorite destinations was the local amusement park, where he was spotted slamming around in bumper cars! Claim denied.
Cell Phoney: The man limped into the local claim centre. He said his foot had been fractured when it was run over in a parking lot, and he filed a claim. But when he left the claim centre, he was spotted on a surveillance camera walking normally and obviously pain-free. On his next visit, he said he was in so much pain he couldn't drive. Later, he hobbled into his physiotherapist's office on crutches, saying the pain was almost unbearable. Following the appointment, the man went into the mall next door. Unfortunately, he misplaced his cell phone and ran around the mall looking for a payphone. He found one, but as he ran up to it, he also ran into his physiotherapist.
Miracle Watch: It was a very expensive watch worth over $4,000, and the man who lost it told a rather fishy story. He said that it must have slipped off his wrist while he was jet-skiing on a local lake. But the details were a little fuzzy. Then there was the fact that he still owed a jeweller for the watch and was demanding a cash settlement from his insurer. The claimant offered to take a polygraph examination, but a few days before it was to take place, he called the insurance company with good news. He'd placed an ad in the local newspaper, he said, asking for the return of the watch. And, surprise, surprise, someone had answered the ad. Apparently, the watch had been found at the bottom of the lake.
The Camera Never Lies: The back and neck pain was agonizing and, he said, he couldn't possibly go back to work. It was a routine claim interview, but the adjuster
noticed that the man didn't seem to be suffering very much. A surveillance camera was set up next to a piece of land the man had just purchased, and it soon captured a very fit claimant chopping down trees, clearing brush, and lifting boulders. Claim denied.
Car vs. Roller Blades: Sometimes, it's hard to put the brakes on. That's what happened to one man who was rollerblading downhill. He saw a car ahead of him stopped at a red light, but he couldn't slow down, and bounced off the car. The rollerblader was fine, but, astoundingly, the two people in the car filed for accident benefits, claiming their injuries had left them incapacitated. Although one of the claimants worked for an insurance company as an underwriter, no one believed they could be in such agony while the rollerblader could simply skate away.
The Overmedicated Pedestrian: A man walking through an intersection was clipped by a car and knocked to the ground. But he got up and refused any help from an ambulance crew. He eventually reappeared at the office of the driver's insurance company to demand compensation. He produced a pile of prescription receipts that totalled well over $2,000. A review of the receipts revealed that he had visited 11 different doctors and over 20 pharmacies. Along the way, he had accumulated so many stress-reducing pills that no one person could possibly take them all and live to tell about it. The claimant was asked to explain. But apparently, the whole issue was too stressful for him, and he was never heard from again.
The Phantom Worker: A woman had been injured in a car accident, and she provided a stack of wage slips to support her claim for benefits. But the adjuster noticed that none of the wage slips included the standard Canada Pension Plan deduction. An investigator visited the employer, who was the woman's brother-in- law. He said she didn't work at his company and never had. Then the investigator showed him the Employer's Confirmation of Income form that had been received from his company. It had been completed and signed by the man's wife. He said his wife was illiterate and couldn't possibly have filled it out. This sister act is now appearing in court.
A Tangled Web: Originally, there was nothing suspicious about the accident-benefit claim. It was paid out and the file closed. Then another claimant from the same car accident demanded compensation. The investigation proved that the second claimant wasn't even in the car at the time of the collision, and it also raised questions about the first claimant. It turned out the accident was minor and there was no damage to the car. The claimant had been paid compensation based on a form supplied by his employer that turned out to be forged. He was convicted of forgery, but before he was sentenced, he was instructed to produce letters attesting to his good character. When he did so, the handwriting turned out to be virtually the same on all three letters, and he now faces three more counts of forgery.
That Sinking Feeling: His beloved Camaro had been stolen and had vanished without a trace. At least, that was the story he told the insurance adjuster and later a judge. Neither of them was convinced. The car was found at the bottom of a local river. The claimant testified that he was nowhere near the scene when the car was dumped. But it turned out that an undercover police officer was. The officer was there on an unrelated case when he saw the claimant and two of his buddies push the car into the water.
Reel to Real: A film crew was working on a television special sponsored by the Insurance Bureau of Canada. The subject of the show was car theft, and the producers had brought in some police officers to offer technical assistance. The officers offered to show them how to find the tell-tale signs that a vehicle had been stolen, and they used the crew's rental van for their demonstration. It proved to be a very informative exercise. You guessed it: the van was stolen.
return to top
WHERE DID THAT TREE COME FROM?
(AND OTHER LIKELY STORIES) 
The following are actual statements found on insurance forms in which drivers attempted to summarize the details of an accident in the fewest possible words. We don't know if the insurers were amused or not, but we were.
- Coming home I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have.
- The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intention.
- I thought my window was down, but I found it was up when I put my head through it.
- I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way.
- A truck backed through my windshield into my wife's face.
- The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him.
- I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment.
- In an attempt to kill a fly I drove into a telephone pole.
- I had been shopping for plants all day and was on my way home. As I reached an intersection a hedge sprang
up, obscuring my vision and I did not see the other car.
- I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident.
- I was on the way to the doctor with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way causing me to have
an accident.
- As I approached an intersection a sign suddenly appeared in place where no stop sign had ever appeared before.
I was unable to stop in time to avoid the accident.
- To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front I struck a pedestrian.
- My car was legally parked as it backed into another vehicle.
- An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished.
- I told the police that I was not injured, but on removing my hat found that I had a fractured skull.
- I was sure the old fellow would never make it to the other side of the road when I struck him.
- The pedestrian had no idea which way to run as I ran over him.
- I saw a slow moving, sad faced old gentleman as he bounced off the roof of my car.
- The indirect cause of the accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth.
- I was thrown from my car as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows.
- The telephone pole was approaching. I was attempting to swerve out of the way when I struck the front end.
THAT DANGED NEW MATH
And then there was the one about the man in Boston who claimed to his insurer, Fitchburg Mutual Insurance Company, that his 25-foot power boat had been stolen from a locked garage. Upon investigation, reveals the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts, it was determined that the garage measured just 19 feet long!
(For the record, he received probation for one year and was ordered to pay $500 in court costs. Another subject in this case had previously pleaded guilty to insurance fraud charges.)
NO SIGN OF STOPPING 
Tania Ensor, risk manager for a non-profit organization, e-mailed this one to us:
An individual with our organization called in to report an automobile claim. The auto accident, which took place in a shopping plaza parking lot, happened when the driver of the other vehicle rammed into our vehicle. When questioned, the driver of the other vehicle was quoted as saying: "I was looking for the stop sign when I hit you."
DOGGONE-IT!
Broker Earle Lepofsky, of Downsview, Ont., shared this gem in the May, 1992, issue of Canadian Insurance magazine:
I've been in the business for 25 years, but have never seen anything like this one: a Great Dane swallowed a pair of diamond stud earrings. The earrings, worth $1,500 to $2,000, were on the dresser in the bedroom, and the dog was in the room. Suddenly, the dog jumped up and swallowed them!
I was laughing when I reported it to the insurer, but it was a legitimate claim; the policy was all-risk. The woman's poor husband sifted through the dog's excrement for weeks, although the earrings were never found. The insurer paid the claim. This happened seven or eight years ago, and I still kid the client about it to this day.
INQUIRING MINDS WANT PROOF
This claim, reported by broker Larry Gregga of Regina, Sask., in the May, 1992, issue of Canadian Insurance, didn't hold water with the insurer:
One unusual claim we had concerned a power boat that had just been in the shop, at the insurance company's expense. No sooner had the boat been repaired when it became the subject of another claim.
Just after the owner picked up the boat, his son took it out on the road, hitched to the back of the car. He had to stop suddenly and the boat somehow lifted off the trailer and landed on top of the car, damaging both. Of course, the insurance company refused to believe the story of how it happened. But somehow, "The National Inquirer" in the United States got wind of it, and ran a story with a full-color photo. Only then was the claim accepted and paid for.
FOWL PLAY
You'll quack up over this claim, reported by broker Dale Smout of Simcoe, Ont., in the May, 1995, issue of Canadian Insurance magazine:
Our town, Simcoe, Ont., has a park system running through it that is inhabited by hundreds of ducks and geese. There are signs indicating: "Caution -- Duck Crossing."
Not only do they waddle slowly across the road, but sometimes fly low over the bridges.
Anyway, we received a call one morning from a young woman: "I was driving through town and was hit by a low-flying duck -- it QUACKED my windshield." After I had assured the woman that it would be repaired, her next query was: "Can you tell me how much my deDUCKtible is?"
BUT THEY HAD A GOOD EXCUSE
We went back to the 1938 edition of Canadian Insurance magazine for this explanation of why fire insurance executives of the day grew prematurely old:
"At a village fire recently, only two men answered the call, and it was found that the other 12 members of the brigade roll had been dead for several years."
LONG LIVE SIR WILFRID LAURIER
Sir Wilfrid Laurier wasn't in any hurry to cash in on his life insurance policy, as he revealed in a 1913 speech at the Life Underwriters' Convention in Ottawa, as reported in Canadian Insurance, August 27, 1913. (Laurier had been Prime Minister until 1911.)
". . .When I was young, I was in very delicate health. Thank the Lord, I have good health now. I was 30 before I could get an insurance on my life. I had applied to a company and they had refused me. I don't blame them for it. They refused till in 1878, when I was 36, the Sun Life consented to take the risk. They did so on the advice of Mr., now Sir, James Grant, who said I was good for 10 years only (laughter). But when once the ice was broken, then it was easy to get insured in any other company. The Sun would not take me on the whole life, but only on the 10-year plan. It still exists, and I have to die to get the money. But as evidence of how little I regard money, I have, in all these years, never fulfilled that requirement which would compel the company to pay."
OH, THOSE FUN-LOVING ACTUARIES!
Enough with the lawyer stories. This being an insurance site, we highlight another group –
those wild and crazy actuaries.
- An actuary is a CPA who found CPA work too exciting.
- An actuary is one who, if you're drowning in a pond 20 feet offshore, will throw you an 11-foot rope and
point out that he's meeting you MORE than halfway.
- An actuary with a personality is one that looks at your shoes rather than his own.
- Ask an actuary "what's 2 + 2?" Response: "What do you want it to be?"
return to top
Not your average insurance policies!
You can buy insurance to cover just about any kind of risk under the sun – and beyond! We've
all heard of former movie star Betty Grable's insurance policy on her famous "million-dollar" legs, but
here are some of the other unusual risks insured by the granddaddy of them all,
Lloyd's of London.
Grainy Picture
A grain of rice with a portrait of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh engraved on it was
insured at Lloyd's for $20,000.
A Monster of a Risk
Cutty Sark Whisky offered a one-million-pound prize to anyone who could capture the Loch Ness Monster alive. They guarded against loss by taking out a Lloyd's policy. More recently, Cutty Sark offered a one-million-pound prize to the person producing an authentic extra-terrestrial device, again insuring against loss at Lloyd's.
The Last Laugh
A comedy theatre group insured themselves against the risk of a member of their audience dying laughing.
A Matter of Taste
Food critic and gourmet Egon Ronay insured his taste buds for 250,000 pounds, while a whisky distiller insured his nose.
The "Boat" That Didn't Float
In 1901, the first car insured at Lloyd's was covered by a marine policy. Cars were such a novelty that specific policies did not yet exist, so the marine underwriter wrote a normal marine policy for the car on the basis that it was a ship navigating on dry land.
(Reprinted with permission of Lloyd's of London)
return to top
