From S.C. Insurance News Service
Website:
11th
Conviction for Staged Auto Wrecks in Lowcountry in Past
Three Months
November 13, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Allison Dean Love
803-252-3455 or cell phone 803-413-1044
alove@scinsnews.com
Case Falls on Insurance Fraud Awareness Week
Columbia, S.C. – November 13, 2008 – On Monday,
November 10, 2008, Defendant Rasheed Suquan Fair, 22, of 189
Beach Road, Apartment F-8, Walterboro, pled guilty to the
lesser-included offense of Presenting False Claims for
Payment more than $1,000 but less than $5,000 before the
Honorable John C. Hayes in Colleton County. Fair was
originally indicted with Presenting False Claims for
Payment, $5,000 or more.
Defendant Fair presented false claims totaling over $12,000
to Peak Property and Casualty Company by reporting that he
was involved in a car accident on Round O Road in Walterboro
on February 18, 2007. He claimed that the driver wrecked
after swerving to miss a wild hog in the road, but
investigation revealed that the wreck had been staged.
Defendant Fair had a prior conviction for possession of drug
paraphernalia and was sentenced to two years imprisonment
suspended to two years probation. Judge Hayes also ordered
him to pay restitution of $655 to Colleton County
Fire-Rescue. Two co-defendants involved in this wreck,
Lynell Denise Manigo and Jasmine Shantaye Fair pled guilty
previously on October 8.
A fourth defendant pled guilty on October 8 to the same
charge involving a different auto wreck. Another six
defendants pled guilty on September 18 to the same charge
involving three more staged wrecks. An eleventh defendant
was found guilty on September 17 after staging a wreck.
All of the cases were investigated by the South Carolina Law
Enforcement Division and the National Insurance Crime
Bureau.
The South Carolina Insurance News Service reports a few
interesting facts related to insurance fraud:
► Insurance fraud costs nearly $120 billion a year,
with healthcare fraud at $85 billion a year and property and
casualty insurance fraud at $30 billion a year, according to
the Insurance Information Institute.
► Each year consumers spend about $300 per household
just in additional insurance premiums, according to the
National Insurance Crime Bureau and about $1,000 in total
increased insurance premiums, taxes and cost of goods and
services according to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.
► There were 712 complaints of insurance fraud
reported to the South Carolina Attorney General's Insurance
Fraud Division in 2007. There were 94 criminal convictions
and 72 civil remedies.
► The total amount of insurance fraud reported to the
South Carolina Attorney General's Insurance Fraud Division
in 2007 was nearly $8.4 million.
► Cases have come from all around the state of South
Carolina and break down by region as follows:
Piedmont - 28% (115)
Low Country - 24.5% (100)
Pee Dee - 24.5% (100)
Midlands - 23% (95)
► The South Carolina Insurance Fraud Hotline
(1-888-95-FRAUD) is available toll-free, 24 hours a day, 7
days a week.
► Insurance fraud can be "hard" or
"soft." Hard fraud occurs when someone
deliberately fakes an accident, injury, theft, arson or
other loss to collect insurance money illegally. Soft fraud
occurs when someone inflates a claim or underestimates the
number of miles driven on an insurance application.
Report Insurance Fraud to the South Carolina Insurance Fraud
Hotline 1-888-95-FRAUD - All reports remain confidential.
For more information on insurance fraud in South Carolina or
for an interview call 803-252-3455 or e-mail alove@scinsnews.com.
For more than 30 years, the South Carolina Insurance News
Service, a nonprofit organization, has been providing free
insurance information to consumers and the media about
property and casualty insurance issues. The News Service is
funded by insurance companies doing business in South
Carolina.
South Carolina Insurance News Service
1301 Gervais Street, Suite 715
Columbia, SC 29201
Office: 803-252-3455
Fax: 803-779-0189
www.scinsnews.com
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