Assorted Insurance Scams

Its amazing the lenghts to which people will go to
obtain whatever they feel will solve their immediate problems. Yesterday
the Boston Globe featured a
story about pre-arranged auto accident insurance claims. A Lawerence, Mass grandmother was selling "seats"
in the soon-to-be smashed vehicles for $300, with the expectation that
each "victim" would collect up to $5,000 from insurance.

However it seems the mastermind, 64-year-old Altagracia Arias,
forgot to fasten her seat belt, and was killed in the September 4th set-up
smash-up. Globe article here.

Reminds me of Junkie Jake, our downstairs neighbor in the Blue Diamond
in Austin, Texas back in the 70’s, who shot off his big toe with a .38
in order to insure a supply of pharmaceutical pain pills. I watched him
milk that stump for two years, removing the dressing and messing with
the wound to prevent it from healing. Even worse, Jake was not into sharing.
"Shoot off your own fucking toe" were his exact sentiments.

Now word from Germany of two men staging a chainsaw accident in which
one of them cut off the other’s thumb and forefinger to claim 40,000
euros ($44,780) in insurance money, authorities said on Friday. "One man held onto a cutting board and the other sawed his fingers
off," presiding
judge Juergen Treu said at the court in the southern town of Wuerzburg.

from Reuters Europe