Fraud of the Week
Property Fraud – Ohio
Amount – $1 million +
Seven people have been indicted for a fraud ring that burned buildings and faked burglaries between 2011 and 2017 in order to collect claim payments of over $1 million dollars. The group burned buildings owned by members of the ring, defrauded multiple insurance carriers for the claims, changed one-dollar bills into twenties, fifties and hundreds, hid a mineral-rights windfall from the Social Security Administration so that over $30,000 in benefits could still be collected, and burglarized a home with the intent of destroying evidence of the group's crimes.
The purpose of the group was to create a source of money for the ring leader and others through arson, insurance fraud, counterfeiting money, theft, money laundering and social security fraud.