Fraud of the Week

 

February 22, 2016

 

Damaged Products Fraud – Massachusetts

Amount: $220,876

 

A Massachusetts man was sentenced to fifteen months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for filing ten false insurance claims for product shipments he claimed had been lost en route, stolen, or arrived spoiled, frozen, or otherwise unusable. In most instances the property was not damaged at all; when there was damage he inflated the amount of the claim, sometimes by tens of thousands of dollars. He sought payments for $450,000 worth of damage; he was paid $178,000 although the actual amount of legitimate claims was $19,000. He has been ordered to pay $160,876 in restitution and a fine of $60,000.