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The bottom line was still the same, chiropractors paying for referrals, but the overall scam had a slightly different look on a recent bust by the Florida Insurance Commissioner’s office.
Prebeck Consulting, owned by Glen and Susan Prebeck, was the common denominator between the 13 chiropractors against whom warrants were recently issued. Instead of using the usual “capper” relationship, Prebeck Consulting was using a telemarketing firm to keep a large number of chiropractors knee-deep in exploitable cases. The source of the cases was traffic accident reports, obtained from numerous police departments by the Prebecks and used as leads to call potential patients.
It took an elaborate sting operation to get down to the nitty gritty of what was going on. Detective John Bukata, a Broward investigator for the Florida DOI, arranged for a fake driver’s license and a fake social security number. Geico threw in a fake insurance policy and Nationwide provided a vehicle ID number.
Bukato got Ryder Truck Rental to agree to be the at fault party in a fake accident and the official report was issued by the Davie Police (who were fully aware they were just assisting in an undercover fraud investigation.) The report was clear on the fact that no one was injured. Bukato’s alias’s name, address and phone number were also plainly listed. The fake information was all part of the sting.
Then the waiting began. Two short weeks after the alleged accident, BINGO! Bukato’s phone rang.
“Hi, I’m Andy Anderson from the Broward Consumer Services …”
Andy knew about the accident and did everything he could to convince the undercover officer that he should be seen by a doctor “just to make sure.” Bukato assured Andy that he was not injured, but Andy was insistent. “It’s absolutely free,” he assured Bukato, “and great protection against any problem that might flare up later.”
So Bukato – actually his alias identity – agreed to see a chiropractor. And Dr. Frank Darrow of Coral Springs, was referred a patient that he’ll probably not soon forget.
On the day of the scheduled appointment, Bukato first visited a medical doctor and obtained a clean bill of health. Afterward, when he showed up for the appointment with Darrow, Bukato assured the doctor that he was not injured. Darrow, however, told Bukato all about the program and gave all the reasons that Bukato needed treatment. Darrow didn’t know Bukato was wired for sound.
Six visits later, Darrow found himself charged with grand theft, unlawful insurance solicitation and six counts of insurance fraud.
Others netted in the sting included:
Victims used to be easily identifiable. They’d be the guys with concentric black and white circles painted on their foreheads and signs stuck on their back with scotch tape that said “kick me.” They spoke with heavy accents, either foreign or southern, and often had a telling, vacant look in their eyes.
No more!
Even the pre-requisites of being upright and breathing no longer apply. Victims are anybody; victims are everybody. Most are alive, some are dead. They are young and old, rich and poor, stupid and smart, black and white, corporate and individual. Not surprisingly, the people taking advantage of the victims can be described in identical fashion.
There is only one thing that can be said with near certainty when it comes to those who victimize others. There are no single-lines fraudsters. One more time, THERE ARE NO SINGLE-LINE FRAUDSTERS. If John Scamster is inclined to indulge in check-kiting, he is equally inclined to play games on his credit cards, fill out a mortgage application with misleading, untruthful information, allege an injury really suffered on Sunday evening occurred instead on Monday morning – for the sole purpose of collecting on workers’ compensation insurance – and insist his lost luggage contained two Armani suits instead of stinky gym socks, dirty underwear and a 3-year-old, faded sweat suit.
If John Scamster were a real individual, instead of the figment of a weary editor’s late-night imagination, and if the situation suggested above were entirely true, what would the various industries be doing? The bank might have an investigator critically eying John’s account and then deciding if the account should simply be closed with a terse letter or if further action was warranted. The credit card companies would be handing the account over to their own investigative staffs – which might or might not be communicating with their counterparts at other companies – and taking steps to cut their losses. The mortgage company investigator, if the misinformation were caught, would be doing his own checking and making his own decisions. The workers’ compensation carrier would perhaps have identified one too many “red flags” and turned the case over to an in-house Special Investigation Unit employee – who would then begin looking deeper into the circumstances of the claim. And the representative for the airline might be raising his or her eyebrows and sending the form letter to John requesting copies of the receipts received when the claimed Armani suits were purchased.
One thing’s missing from the above scenario.
Communication.
Five different types of fraud, five different investigators, five different investigations. One crook.
If we are to collectively win this war, one of the key weapons in our arsenal is “communication.” Join an industry organization; take a workers’ compensation investigator to lunch; pick up the telephone and pick a brain; chat with your favorite data vendor and ask who else uses its services; call and request a sample copy of The John Cooke Insurance Fraud Report. In short, communicate – wisely and legally – within our own sister ranks.
The John Cooke Financial Fraud Report, Fighting Financial Fraud Through Communication and Education.
© Copyright 1996 Alikim Media