Claim To Fame 

Few frauds are as funny as those related to insurance

Remember the farmer in England who claimed insurance for his phone that had disappeared into the insides of a cow while he was helping it calve? Or the woman who lost her phone when she left it in a sponge cake pre-bake? Both phones were, ahem, retrieved, as it were, but not quite in working condition. If ever there’s a list of bizarre and fraud insurance claims, here’s one for the top five. A businessman in UP tried to cremate an employee’s remains. Only, ground staff discovered the corpse was a dummy. Verily, the doll is dead, long live the droll. The businessman had a neat Rs 50L policy in the employee’s name in the hope of cheating insurers by faking his death. 

To be dead serious, insurance fraud is no joke. Just weeks ago in Nov, Lucknow cops arrested a couple for duping insurers of Rs 25L payout by faking the husband’s death. Financial distress and mounting debts are apparently pushing otherwise-most-ordinary middle-class people to extreme actions and criminal behaviour. Of course, crash-for-cash and burning down property are classic frauds insurers are ever alert to. As is inflating medical bills or pretending an injury is more severe than it is. So what’s the upshot? Insurers get even more tightfisted when it comes to honouring genuine claims. Every insurance fraud makes insurance companies 10 times more nasty when dealing with people who really need help.

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