You know you get those people who try their luck at every damn turn? Well, in 2016, there were 13 488 cases of South Africans doing so in the “fraud or serious misrepresentation” category of life insurance claims.

That’s a considerable amount of people trying to cash in fraudulently, say the stats released on Monday by the Association for Savings and Investment SA (Asisa), reports Business Insider SA.

But how do these claims play – or pay -out?

Well, below are the most common ploys that are foiled, as laid out by Donovan Herman, the convenor of the Asisa claims standing committee:

Retrenchment cover:

Although insurance companies have grown pretty good at spotting a sudden influx of policy applications from a particular employer, but if they don’t, many employees might get some decent cover.

Dying “unexpectedly” after taking out life insurance:

“There was a case recently of a 44-year-old who died within a month of a policy start, of natural causes.”

It wasn’t before long that the insurance company found, however, that its supposedly “healthy policy-holder” had a history of chronic renal issues as well as hypertension.

But there are cases where bad health is truly only discovered a short while after the policy is taken out:

“It is possible for something like that to go undiscovered, and claims are paid if there isn’t any evidence of non-disclosure,” he says.

Get the insurance first, then the test:

Some people get life insurance, and only then get tested for HIV. Now that’s naughty:

“The signs are there, the symptoms are there, then before they get tested people get insurance,” says Herman.

However, “if it can’t be proven that the person knew they had it, the insurance will pay”, says Herman.

Watch those in your congregation:

In 2016, fraud in funeral-cover claims made up more than 80% of all attempted life insurance scams. They most commonly happened when people took out policies for people who aren’t family members, but rather acquaintances from church, of all places:

“It is a proven fact that, in times of really bad health, people tend to turn to their congregations of priests for consolation,” says Herman.

With this knowledge of an imminent death, it’s an opportunity that some fellow church members try to exploit.

I guess they will just ask God for forgiveness, and life, for them, will go on.

[source:businessinsidersa]