Funeral Insurance Fraud: Corpse Used As A Means To Instant Wealth
Funeral insurance fraud has once again raised its ugly head in Durban. Five people have charges against them for committing an act with the intent to obtain a fraudulent outcome from an insurance process. They intended to get benefits illegally.
The five people are suspects in a R1 million case involving a life cover claim lodged with 1LifeInsurance.
These five people appeared in the Commercial Crimes Court for using an unclaimed corpse and also for using a stolen ID document. The intent was funeral insurance fraud.
Four of the five accused came into the offices of 1Life Insurance to sign documents where the police apprehended them. Of the five people found guilty, one was an employee at the King Edward Hospital and another one was a funeral parlour owner.
ID Stolen to Use for Life Cover
It was in July 2014 that a 45-year-old woman from KwaMashu got hold of an ID document of Mondli Dube, whom she didn’t know. She got another man to call 1LifeInsurance and take out life cover in Mondli Dube’s name.
The woman started paying R319 each month for the premiums and she was the sole beneficiary of the life cover. This was part of the funeral insurance fraud plan.
She paid the premium regularly but says that after six months she wanted to cash in on the insurance, but she would would need a dead body for this purpose.
All Would Get Some of the Impending Wealth
She got hold of a funeral parlour, and the assistant told her that there was an unidentified body there. The 45-year-old woman promised to pay out R10,000 to be able to ‘use’ the body. The funeral parlour owner was in line to get R200 000 for his part in arranging a corpse for a claim. That was a massive funeral insurance fraud plan.
The 45-year-old woman needed someone who had the same surname as Dube to be able to identify the body, and the owner of the funeral parlour arranged for his neighbour who matched the surname. The neighbour would get R20,000 for his efforts.
They made a trip to the King Edward Hospital to identify the corpse as their younger brother. Then they produced the ID documents and had the body transfereed to a private mortuary. They decided on cremation but a memorial service was held before the cremation.
Everybody is a Loser with Funeral Insurance Fraud
The owner of the house where the service would take place would get R20,000, but the cremation was stopped. Further investigations went on to reveal that in fact, Monli Dube was very much alive. Someone had stolen his ID document. Officials returned the corpse to a government mortuary tagged as unknown. The funeral insurance fraud culprits were punished.
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* YouTube video about other insurance scams
All info was correct at time of publishing