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By Susan E. Clarke
Staff Writer
In a rather unique scam, criminals are purchasing life policies on beggars, peasants and prostitutes and then killing them for the insurance proceeds.
Sometimes the first attempt doesn’t work. In such cases, the criminals, undaunted, just keep on trying. One man, an illiterate parking lot attendant by the name of Alberto Acosta, has been stabbed in the legs four times, burned on the face with battery acid, shot in the stomach twice and run over by a car. To the group of criminals holding an $80,000life insurance policy in Acosta’s name, he was worth far more dead than alive.
At the center of the allegations is Reinaldo Riascos of the port city of Buenaventura. Riascos has been arrested by authorities because they suspect that he’s masterminded at least five murder for profit schemes and that he may be responsible for as many as 45 more. Police think that Riascos meets an unsuspecting potential victim, befriends him by loaning him some money and buying him a life insurance policy, then invites him to a party, plies him with alcohol and arranges for a convenient “accident” to occur. Bingo the proceeds of the life policy are paid after the unfortunate death.
The situation does not always end in death. Accident policies covering eyes and limbs are also a popular source of income for the crooks and the indigent. One gang in Bucaramanga, a small city in the northern section of Columbia, paid poor people a small fee to participate in the scheme. First an accident policy was purchased and then the cooperating victim would agree to have an “accident” in which he lost a limb. The gang profited by$150,000 before the members were apprehended. Now, for a relatively small town, Bucaramanga has an inordinately large number of beggars who are missing limbs.
Another scam on the increase calls for “bodyswitching. “The criminals enter into a lucrative agreement with a corrupt doctor who is willing to certify that a body, usually that of a homeless street person who just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time, is the corpse of another (heavily insured) person. This scheme works well in Columbia because life there has a very low price tag. Society is made up of the “haves” and the “have nots,” and the latter are worth more dead than alive. Cali (that’s Cali as in Cali drug cartel) is another Columbian city with its share of troubles. Because of the partial break up of the cartel, hundreds of former cartel employees are looking for other ways to make money. And in a society where life insurance is easily obtainable, often without any requirement for a background check or physical examination, life insurance scams offer an attractive alternative.
Columbia has the dubious distinction of being the world’s most dangerous nation. Despite its relatively small size, Columbia has nearly 30,000 violent deaths per year. Many factors besides life insurance scams contribute to the numbers: kidnapping rings, guerrilla fronts, war zones and paramilitary groups.
Given their recent experience, however, these companies are attempting to plug some of the holes. They’re compiling databases and adding more restrictive language to policies. Unfortunately, for some victims it is far too late.
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