SGI claims centre (file photo/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Fraud awareness month

Using Marketplace to sell items reported stolen is fraud: SGI lays out top cases

Mar 22, 2024 | 11:26 AM

A woman who was found selling items she had reported stolen on Facebook Marketplace was one of five fraud cases highlighted by SGI recently.

SGI released the cases now because March is fraud prevention month. Last year, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigated 481 claims with 263 turning up fraud.

The cost of the fake claims is about $6 million.

Velma

Velma (not her real name) claimed a large list of items stolen on her home insurance policy, but investigators became suspicious when the list of missing things matched closer to a move than what thieves normally take.

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More unlikely details came out when SIU began looking deeper.

Velma reported a number of stolen food supplies but that did not match the size of the freezer listed in photos.

She also said a number of things were taken from the garage, but the home had no garage.

Witnesses told investigators they did not believe there was a break-in because Velma was selling electronics and other household items on Facebook Marketplace.

When asked for an interview, Velma withdrew her insurance claim and SGI did not pay her the $85,000 she had asked for.

Daphne

In the second case, Daphne reported her vehicle had been stolen after she dropped her keys in the driveway while carrying bags into the house.

However, police had earlier received a complaint of a possible impaired driver using a car that matched Daphne’s. They could not catch up with it at the time but later attended a follow-up complaint in which a vehicle struck three parked cars and was then abandoned with no keys inside.

It was full of empty bottles and smelled of alcohol.

Months later, SGI was tipped off that Daphne was telling her friends how she lied about the claim to avoid being charged with impaired driving after drinking, driving and causing the collision.

Daphne admitted lying and did not get her $50,000 claim but was sent a bill for the damage to the parked cars. Impaired driving voids insurance coverage.

Roger

Roger also claimed a stolen vehicle while he was out shopping, but the police investigation turned up the vehicle in a spot where it looked like it hadn’t been moved for months.

Roger had to pay SGI $4,300, his claim was denied, and he was charged with fraud and mischief.

Fred

An anonymous tipster told SGI that Fred had been seen unloading a towed vehicle to a location that he then vandalized. The witness believed Fred was the owner and the next day, the vehicle was towed away.

The SIU dug deeper and found three vehicle owners reported very similar claims that went beyond coincidence.

Each claim had an extensive damage, was bought for the same amount and had a similar signature on the bill of sale.

Each vehicle was listed as a rebuild and all three owners used the same address and phone number as Fred. They were all related.

The claims were ruled fraudulent and then withdrawn. SGI saved $13,000.

Dee

A woman who claimed her stolen property worth $90,000, which included a lot of high-value jewelry, was taken out of a parked car outside of a restaurant while she was on vacation had her claim denied.

Dee said she was on vacation out of the country and went out to dinner one night, leaving her valuables in a bag in the locked car parked outside of the restaurant.

She then bought new jewelry to replace the stolen items and used the invoices to submit her claim.

The invoices were proven fake, and the investigation also showed that the expensive jewelry was not properly imported into Canada.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com