Common Insurance Frauds With Which Individuals Are Charged in California

December 3, 2021

 

California is a state where both the law and a supposed disregard to established laws are taken highly seriously. One offense that currently incites many Californians to find themselves in court or behind bars is insurance fraud.

Insurance fraud is defined as an action perpetrated to cheat an insurance procedure. In terms of California law, any act aimed at defrauding an insurance company qualifies as insurance fraud.

There are various types of insurance fraud. Some of these frauds include life insurance fraud, healthcare/ medical insurance fraud, auto insurance fraud, unemployment fraud, and property insurance fraud. Other noteworthy insurance scams include premium fraud and commercial liability fraud.

Nevertheless, we'd be emphasizing the first six frauds mentioned above, which happen to be common in California. Depending on the case and jurisdiction, a person found guilty of insurance fraud in California could be fined or jailed.

Additionally, some individuals labeled guilty of insurance fraud by the claimants are innocent. Still, they're forced to be prosecuted for an offense they didn't commit. These tendencies prompted us to offer insurance fraud attorney services at Louis Goodman.

Have you or anyone you're acquainted with been accused of insurance fraud and been searching for "insurance lawyers near me" on Google? If yes, you could book our insurance fraud attorney services by visiting https://www.louisgoodman.com/insurance-fraud-attorney.

Types of Insurance Frauds

It isn't uncommon for Californians to find themselves charged with various insurance frauds. When this event occurs, it could either be treated as a felony or as a misdemeanor. An insurance fraud felony requires a good insurance fraud attorney.

The types of insurance frauds that may be interpreted as a felony include:

Life Insurance Fraud

It's possible to fraudulently collect life insurance benefits by faking one's death. In such cases, the person may reappear later, claiming to have lost their memories.

Life insurance fraud may also occur at the application stage. Numerous life insurance fraud cases involve applicants submitting false information. This action is usually intended to receive a lower premium.

Again, identity fraud is now an underlying felony that could contribute to change of life insurance conditions. It's believed that the scammer commits this offense to enrich their pockets. For instance, this offense may be executed by adding an extra false identity as a newly insured person.

If you've been charged with life insurance fraud, you'll need a reliable life insurance fraud attorney.

Health Care/ Medical Insurance Fraud

Medical insurance fraud is legally defined as an insurance fraud aimed at receiving medical benefits. It usually involves cheating, covering up, or misrepresenting facts.

Both an insurer and an insured person can commit medical insurance fraud. This action could involve submitting claims for uninsured or underinsured members and dependents. It may also pertain to falsifying enrollment forms and failing to reveal other coverage.

Other forms of medical insurance fraud include concealing claims resulting from work-related injuries. Similarly, health care fraud includes false medical claims and billing for services that were not rendered. Falsely charging for higher-level services is also regarded as a medical insurance fraud.

Further events that may be interpreted as an insurance fraud case include:

  • Diagnosing or treating patients in ways that aren't within the purview of a physician's practice
  • Altering insurance claim entries
  • Offering services while a practitioner's license has been suspended or invalidated

Insurance companies could seek an actual medical opinion from independent medical examiners. This action is intended to debunk what they see as phony insurance claims.

Again, medical insurance frauds could be committed against Medicare and Medicaid programs. Several doctors and surgeons are accused of excessively charging insurance companies for services that never took place.

In such cases, the accused will require a criminal defense attorney to have a fair legal outcome.

Auto Insurance Fraud

This insurance fraud involves claiming insurance money with faked road deaths or staged crashes. It's assumed to be used primarily by fraud networks or organizations. Uninsured drivers and people who fabricate police records are also deemed guilty of this fraud. Both hard and soft auto insurance frauds exist.

Some common auto insurance fraudulent acts include:

  • Making multiple claims for the same injury
  • Duping your vehicle insurer with injuries that aren't linked to an automotive accident
  • Claiming charges for elevated repair costs than what was paid for the automobile

Furthermore, a person could engage in hard auto insurance frauds by staging accidents. Another means involves filing lawsuits for medical treatments that were never received.

Fabricating injuries and falsely claiming that one's vehicle has been stolen are other hard auto insurance frauds. Soft auto insurance frauds comprise the vast majority of fraudulent vehicle insurance claims.

Rate evasion is also considered an auto insurance fraud. This offense is committed when a person unlawfully registers their car with another region. The perpetrators aim to get lower insurance premiums than where they reside.

Another way people may commit auto insurance fraud is by "fronting". This strategy involves registering another person as the principal driver of a vehicle. For instance, young motorist premiums may be avoided if parents claim to be the main drivers of their children's automobiles.

It could take an experienced auto insurance fraud attorney to properly defend anyone charged with auto insurance fraud. In case of an insurance fraud, you should check with criminal defense lawyer Mark Lassiter.

Property Insurance Fraud

Sometimes, people may desire to be paid more than the worth of their destroyed property. Other times, an individual may want to be paid for their products that couldn't be marketed. These instances are regarded as property insurance frauds.

Arson is the most common method of property insurance fraud in California. Some people may intentionally destroy their property to get paid by the insurance company.

Unemployment Insurance Fraud

Additionally, a person who isn't jobless may obtain unemployment benefits. This behavior is regarded as unemployment insurance fraud.

Between 2020 and 2021, there was a significant considerable increase in unemployment fraud cases in the US.

Premium Fraud

Insurers can end up losing premiums due to clients knowingly falsifying the risk. This action results in the payment of lower premiums

Premium fraud usually manifests in workers' compensation insurance. Here, insured persons may report lower overheads, less salaries, and less benefit than what occurred.

Still, premium frauds could occur for any sort of insurable risk.

Bottom Line

The insurance fraud types mentioned above are common subjects of court trials in California. Hence, you could be wrongly accused of committing insurance fraud.

In other cases, you may have unknowingly perpetrated what could be tagged insurance fraud. The best way to deal with situations like this is by employing a competent insurance fraud attorney.

At Louis Goodman, our Alameda County defense attorney could adequately represent you in court.

 

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I believe in making the impossible possible because there’s no fun in giving up. Travel, design, fashion and current trends in the field of industrial construction are topics that I enjoy writing about.

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