Posted on 01/20/2011 8:31:20 AM PST by KeyLargo
* CBS Evening News
Jan. 18, 2011 Caught on Tape: Phony Falls that Cost You Money Insurance Fraud Costs American Consumers $30 Billion Annually
By Sharyl Attkisson
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* In Florida, the _Olive Oil Woman_ picks up a bottle of olive oil, pours it on the floor, stashes it on a shelf, returns to her slick and performs not one fall, but two.
In Florida, the "Olive Oil Woman" picks up a bottle of olive oil, pours it on the floor, stashes it on a shelf, returns to her slick and performs not one fall, but two. (CBS) (CBS) Insurance fraud involving property and casualty claims has become big business - costing American consumers an estimated $30 billion a year. CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports one of the fastest-growing scams involves slipping and falling on purpose.
In Phoenix Arizona, a horrible fall. A 39-year-old woman slips on a hot dog in a store. Paramedics rush in to help. It's a cost of doing business: a customer falls - the business has to pay.
(Scroll down to watch the video.)
But Mark Sakalares says more than ever, slip-and-falls are turning out to be fraud. He's a special agent at the National Insurance Crime Bureau in Chicago.
"It's extremely difficult to prove," Sakalares said. "Because the person did fall. Did they get hurt when they fell? Well, how can you prove they didn't?"
Occasionally, investigators get lucky. There's surveillance video.
Take the case of the "Juice Man" Michael Rhinehart in South Carolina. He slips in some orange juice at a grocery store. But rewind the tape and see he fiddles with a yellow "wet Floor" safety cone, takes the juice from his cart and pours it on the floor. All that's left to do is stash the bottle, walk back, and slide down into the puddle he made. He hoped the act was worth $8,000. All he got was a trip to jail........
Love it when they catch these scumbags.
The reason this crap thrives is because of so much incest between trial lawyers and their Democrat friends running the government. Eventually, it gets to the point where legitimate businesses simply won’t locate in certain neighborhoods and then they get accused of racism and redlining.
reminds me of the lady who was caught on video with a whole ham under her skirt. when she got caught, she dropped it and yelled “who put that in there!!?”
it would be funny karma if she left the store and got hit by a bus.
Most are going for the quick out-of-court settlement. I’ve read that this is why Wal-Mart doesn’t settle ~any~ slip and fall cases. They take every single one to the court room. Reportedly, it has cut way down on fraud.
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