5 insurance brokers indicted for $2.5 million fake life application scam
December 22, 2014 by IFAwebnews Staff
Five San Francisco area insurance brokers are facing up to 30 years in prison for allegedly submitting fake life insurance applications to collect more than $2.5 million in commissions, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco said.
The five were indicted in federal court for running a scheme to defraud the American Income Life Insurance Co., where they worked as independent contractors.
The company is headquartered in Texas but has offices around the country, including several in Northern California.
Prosecutors said the group recruited people to take medical exams in exchange for $100 then used their personal information to submit applications for life insurance without the victims’ knowledge.
As part of the scheme, the suspects allegedly created phony driver’s licenses and took medical exams pretending to be life insurance applicants. They also opened hundreds of bank accounts to fund the premiums on the fraudulent policies and briefly paid the premiums before letting the policies lapse, according to the indictment.
In an effort to avoid being found out, the defendants listed addresses of gas stations and apartment complexes on many of the applications, and fabricated the names of the beneficiaries of the policies, authorities said.
The defendants are scheduled to appear back in court on Jan. 23. All are charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Read the full story at the San Jose Mercury News: 5 Bay Area insurance brokers used fake applications to defraud company, officials say – San Jose Mercury News.
