Insurance fraud is an $80-billion crime annually. It has grown more violent, invasive, and costly in recent years. In response to this trend, the HYPERLINK “http://www.insurancefraud.org/”Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, a nonprofit alliance of consumer groups, insurance companies, and government agencies, lists its top 10 insurance swindlers of 2006 and inducts them into their Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame.

The Hall of Shame reveals the year's largest, most-brazen, or plain stupid insurance crimes. Below are the top property/casualty fraud schemes that made the Coalition's list:

Carla Patterson. The Newport News, Va. woman said she found a dead mouse in her vegetable soup at a Cracker Barrel restaurant. She demanded $500,000 in insurance money, but Cracker Barrel discovered the rodent had no soup in its lungs, and hadn't been cooked. Patterson received a year in prison.

Tramesha Lashon Fox. The Houston high school chemistry teacher wanted to unload her Chevy Malibu because she was tired of the monthly payments. She gave passing grades to two failing students for “stealing” and torching her car so she could collect insurance money. Fox received 90 days in jail and lost her job.

Marc Thompson. Deeply in debt from lavish living, the former Chicago grain futures executive torched his home for $730,000 in insurance money. He set his basement on fire, then let his 90-year-old mother Carmen die in the basement to make it seem she had set the fire as a suicide. He received 190 years in federal prison.

Robert & Teresa Hammond, Margaret Dillavou & Paul Gaines. Incredibly, the two Union County, Ill. couples videotaped themselves committing a crime: crashing the Hammonds' van into a tree to scam insurance money they needed to pay rent to Dillavou. But Dillavou lost the tape. Her estranged husband found it during an acrimonious divorce and gave it to police. The couples received 24 months of probation.

This story was reprinted with permission. For the complete top 10 list, which include life/health-related schemes, go to www.insurancefrad.org.

Interested in more fraud news and in-depth articles? Head over to Claims' fraud channel for more information.

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CAIF Releases Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame

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