Many Australians take out a life insurance policy as a safety measure to protect their loved ones in the event of the policyholder's death, or to provide financial support if the policyholder is unable to earn an income due to illness or disability.
However, there are some individuals who secure a life insurance policy with the intent to defraud the insurance company. Other individuals might start out by holding a policy and identify ways to gain benefit by deception at a later time. Fraudulent life insurance claims have their part to play in raised premiums.
Life insurance frauds include:
- Payouts for dishonestly claimed Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) benefits, provided by the life insurance policy
- Less common but far more complex, faked deaths and disappearances which might entail the co-operation of other participants and forces the perpetrator to go into hiding or to change identity
There have been cases of people claiming to be suffering from unconfirmable but chronic pain, who appear publicly in wheelchairs yet seem to be able to play strenuous sports, do demanding gardening tasks or cope easily with heavy lifting.
As with all insurance fraud, the pocket it ultimately hits is yours.
If you have information that you believe in good faith is insurance fraud, report it NOW!