The Claim:
Life insurance claim documents were received on a death that allegedly occurred on an island in the Caribbean. The documents included a videotape recording of a funeral. The funeral was proposed by the beneficiary, to be that of the insured.
The investigation, stateside:
The claim investigator assigned to this case carefully reviewed all documents provided by the beneficiary including the video and photo identification of the insured. The fraud investigator was able to determine that the body videotaped in the casket, was that of the insured, based upon additional identification provided. The insurance investigation continued with the careful review of the videotape of the funeral.
Seeing is believing:
The review of the videotape by the fraud investigator revealed something remarkable. As the videographer zoomed in for a head shot of the inured in the casket the investigator saw the pulse of the insured beating in her neck!!! This pulse beat was visible in two sections of the video!!! Thank you Mr. Videographer, where ever you are!!
Investigation in the Caribbean:
In order to further verify the evidence found on the videotape, an investigator was sent to the Caribbean island on which the death was alleged to have occurred. The claim investigator contacted the beneficiary who insisted the insured was dead. Further inquiries were made at the funeral home depicted in the video. The management at the funeral home denied that any such funeral took place. A screen shot of a hearse in the video was presented to the manager of the funeral home. He indicated that the hearse was owned by another funeral home in the area. Contact with the owners of the second funeral home were shown the video and said that the funeral procession in which their hearse appears was for another individual, not the insured.
The final nail:
Further verification of documents required a visit be paid to a hospital where the insured was said to have died. It was determined at this facility that the documents sent as proof of death were fraudulent. The personal in the records office seemed very suspicious, but they would not provide any further information. As the investigator was leaving the hospital, the investigator came face to face with the insured who was an employee!