12 hours Ago By Dean Pritchard
Scammers concocted tall tales featuring everything from sniper fire to phantom wildlife in their efforts to cheat Manitoba Public Insurance customers out of as much as $15 million in 2024, the auto insurer said Monday. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * Scammers concocted tall tales featuring everything from sniper fire to phantom wildlife in their efforts to cheat Manitoba Public Insurance customers out of as much as $15 million in 2024, the auto insurer said Monday. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? Scammers concocted tall tales featuring everything from sniper fire to phantom wildlife in their efforts to cheat Manitoba Public Insurance customers out of as much as $15 million in 2024, the auto insurer said Monday.
MPI’s special investigations unit closed more than 3,500 investigations into proven fraudulent activity in 2024, said vice-president and chief customer and product officer Maria Campos. “The expertise and dedication of our (investigative) team..
. is so valuable to MPI and its customers,” Campos said in a news release. The public auto insurer’s media and public relations lead Tara Seel said fraudulent claims come “in all shapes and forms.
” “They are very creative,” she said, adding an estimated $50 million in fraudulent activity goes undetected each year. “These numbers are high and (are) remaining high.” The best (or worst, depending on perspective) five frauds of 2024, as selected by MPI: • After being involved in a minor motor vehicle collision, a motorist claimed they could barely walk or stand, could no longer work and required assistance dressing, bathing and cooking.
MPI investigators followed the claimant, catching them shopping and “power walking” in the mall — bags in hand — for hours at a time. The only time the claimant appeared to have any mobility trouble was when they hobbled to medical appointments, only to be seen resuming shopping for hours at a time. The claimant’s income replacement and personal-care benefits were revoked and they were ordered to repay $5,000 in fraudulently obtained benefits.
• A claimant told MPI they had parked their uninsured car on a vacant lot when an “unknown cyclist” told them the vehicle had to be moved. The claimant said they purchased a five-day temporary insurance policy and were preparing to move the vehicle when a window in the vehicle was shattered by a suspected gunshot and the claimant fled the area. Police and emergency responders arrived minutes later to find the car on fire and no evidence confirming shots had been fired at the vehicle.
MPI investigators learned the claimant had purchased the temporary policy just 45 minutes before the burning car was discovered, and had been caught on security camera next to the vehicle just six minutes before the fire was reported. When investigators could find no one else who had heard gunfire, the car owner “clarified” his story, saying he believed he had been shot at by a sniper using a silencer. Further investigation found several parts had previously been removed from the car, leaving it inoperable.
MPI denied the $9,000 claim. • A motorist claimed they had been driving 50 km/h with their teenage child in the passenger seat when they swerved to avoid hitting a rabbit or a coyote, hit the curb and flipped the vehicle. An investigation found the vehicle had been travelling at 100 km/h, followed by hard braking and swerving just prior to the collision.
When confronted by investigators, the driver admitted they had been asleep at home when their child took the vehicle without their permission. MPI denied the $33,000 claim. • A driver claimed to have no memory of a two-vehicle highway collision that sent them to hospital and resulted in the driver of the other car rolling their vehicle.
Investigators interviewed the driver of the second vehicle, who reported they saw the other car approaching quickly from behind and thought it was going to move to the passing lane when it instead struck the driver’s vehicle, causing it to collide with the centre median and roll over. The driver of the first vehicle told investigators they had been drinking that night at a friend’s home and had enlisted someone else to drive them home. An investigation, however, found that the passenger-side airbag of the vehicle had not been deployed in the collision, meaning no one had been sitting in the passenger seat.
Investigators determined the vehicle had been travelling 180 km/h at the time of the collision. The driver was later found guilty of impaired driving and found liable for nearly $50,000 in damages to the second vehicle. • A driver filed a claim with MPI alleging they had been on their way home from grocery shopping when they hit a deer on the highway.
Investigators found deer hair on the car, but believed the extensive damage to the vehicle’s frame was more consistent with colliding with a pole. A collision analysis and mechanical inspection were completed, after which investigators concluded damages to the vehicle were the result of two distinct collisions and that the driver had used the false wildlife collision claim as an opportunity to disguise pre-existing damage to the vehicle. MPI denied the $13,600 claim.
Anyone with information about auto insurance fraud is encouraged to call the MPI TIPS Line at 204-985-8477 in Winnipeg, toll-free 1-877-985-8477 outside of Winnipeg or submit information online at mpi.mb.ca.
Tipsters can also call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), or report online at manitobacrimestoppers.com. All calls and reports are anonymous.
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ca Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the . He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the and before joining the in 2019. .
Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and . Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism.
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Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the . He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the and before joining the in 2019. .
Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the ‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about , and . Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism.
If you are not a paid reader, please consider . Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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