A life insurance policy is designed to provide financial protection to your family after you have passed away. Like other insurance policies, you have to purchase it while you are still alive. A woman in Georgia pretended to be her deceased son, and signed up for a life insurance policy in his name. This woman was doing it wrong!
A quick scan through your favorite news website will very likely bring up at least a couple of articles that talk about insurance fraud. It is illegal to commit insurance fraud, no matter what type of insurance is involved. The federal government has been cracking down on Medicaid fraud. Several lawsuits have been filed against people who stage car accidents in an attempt to commit fraud against a car insurance company. Those who commit insurance fraud are frequently caught and punished.
It isn’t often that a person chooses to commit fraud with a life insurance policy. My best guess as to why is because it would be rather easy to prove, and the person would get caught. That is exactly what happened to a woman in Atlanta, Georgia.
Donna Ellis Gibbs had a son who who died in a car crash in December of 2002. I don’t think he had a life insurance policy. So, two months later, Ms. Gibbs decided to submit an application for an accidental death life insurance policy to the Monumental Life Insurance Company while pretending to be her deceased son. Not knowing any better, the insurer sold her the life insurance policy.
Later, Ms. Gibbs altered a police report and a death certificate in order to make it look as though her son died in April of 2003. She submitted those altered documents to the insurance company, and received a payout of $151,000. In order for that to happen, Ms. Gibbs must have made herself the beneficiary of the life insurance policy.
Four years later, the ex-husband of Ms. Gibbs found out about this policy, and he notified the Monumental Life Insurance Company about the fraud that Ms. Gibbs had committed. He sent the real, unaltered, death certificate and police report from his son’s death to the insurer.
As a result, Donna Ellis Gibbs has been sentenced to 20 years on probation. She must complete 200 hours of community service, and undergo treatment for drugs and alcohol. She also has to pay back the $151,000 to the Monumental Life Insurance Company. This is an example of the wrong way to sign up for a life insurance policy!
Image by Jack Zalium on Flickr