Insurance can be a tricky business. Greed can play strange games on the mind and cause people to act in reckless and unreasonable ways. As long as people have the opportunity to insure their lives, cars, homes, and health, there will always be someone conjuring up ways to cheat the system. However, while insurance scams are fairly common, some scam artists truly stand out above the rest.

The Top Five Famous Insurance Scams

1. The Health PMO Scam. This scam was run by five people who began operating a fake health insurance company several years back. The “company”, Health PMO, sold health insurance policies, collected monthly premiums from their customers, and then failed to reimburse customers for medical expenses. These five scam artists went so far as to place commercials on local Louisiana television stations and set up booths in the local mall. A number of people fell for this scam, many of which were stuck with expensive surgery bills, hospital stays, and one woman even delivered a child under what she thought was Health PMO insurance.

2. The Florida Zurich Insurance Group Scam. This scam was run by a man named Donald Alfred Toohey, who worked for the Zurich Insurance Group as a claims adjuster. Mr. Toohey convinced five individuals, who are also facing charges, to obtain fake car insurance with the intention of falsifying claims. Mr. Toohey helped these five individuals collect insurance money for car accidents and medical expenses that were completely fraudulent. These six individuals, including Mr. Toohey, have recently been charged with Grand Theft and are awaiting trial.

3. The Bonnie Madden Life Insurance Scam. In 2006, Bonnie Madden was approached by a life insurance agent that sold Mrs. Madden two annuities that she could collect in 15 and 10 years time. The agent profited over $50,000 from the transaction. However, Mrs. Madden found her premiums too expensive and almost lost $300,000. Thankfully, authorities stepped in and discovered that Mrs. Madden’s insurance agent had greatly inflated her net worth in order to earn himself a bigger commission. The agent has since been arrested and Bonnie Madden has had her money returned.

4. The Dr. Jorge Martinez Pain “Specialist” Scam. Also in 2006, Dr. Jorge Martinez, who was working as a pain management specialist in Ohio, conned patients into allowing him to fraudulently bill insurance companies for prescription medications in their name. If the patients refused, he would refuse them their pain medication. Because these patients were suffering from constant, unbearable pain, they agreed to Mr. Martinez’s scheme. Many of the doctor’s patient became addicted to prescription pain killers, with two patients dying from an overdose. Dr. Jorge Martinez is currently spending the rest of his life in prison.

5. The Marc E. Thompson Arsonist Scam. In order to avoid bankruptcy and collect insurance, Marc E. Thompson burned down his one million dollar Chicago home in 2002. While many may think that is bad enough, Mr. Thompson burned down the home with his 90 year old mother still inside. If convicted of his crimes, Mr. Thompson will be looking at a 115 year prison sentence.

Britney Baker is a freelance writer who normally writes feature articles for carinsurancecompanies.org.