Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime. When people cheat insurance companies out of money, the honest people that pay premiums pay through increased insurance costs. Insurance companies in South Africa lose millions of Rands per year in insurance scam costs that have to get passed on to bill-paying consumers.Stolen Cars
There are two ways that criminals perpetrate the stolen car insurance fraud scam. The first type of stolen car fraud is when a car owner sells his car to a body shop to be cut up for parts and then reports the car as stolen. The body shop is in on the fraud, so the authorities are never told about the sale for parts.
The second most common way that criminals commit stolen car fraud is to sell the car to an overseas buyer, make the transaction without any paperwork, ship the car overseas and then report it stolen.
Car Accidents
The next time you see a car accident, you could be watching insurance fraud in action. In most cases, the driver and accident victim are the only ones in on the scheme. In other cases, the driver, victim, insurance investigators and even some of the bystanders that give statements are in on the fraud. The value of the vehicles is greatly inflated and the insurance payoff is for two totalled vehicles.
Medical Aid Billing Fraud
Unfortunately, health care professionals will sometimes get in on the insurance fraud act. One form of medical aid fraud is for health care providers to bill health insurance companies a high fee for a standard procedure, or to bill for services that were never rendered.
Unnecessary Medical Procedures
If it seems like your doctor is ordering you to go for unnecessary testing, then you may be the victim of insurance fraud. If you go to the doctor for a sore arm but your doctor orders a series of blood tests that have nothing to do with your arm, then that could be a common form of insurance fraud
Staged Home Fires
Homeowners’ insurance scams cost insurance companies and their customers millions of Rands each year. One of the most common form of homeowners’ insurance fraud is the staged fire or act of vandalism. This can be done in one of two ways. The homeowner either removes important family items before the fraud takes place, or the homeowner makes sure that the insurance company knows the value of the expensive items and then has them destroyed.
