In this position, I receive so many press releases that it’s difficult to keep up and some sit in my email inbox unread because they don’t relate to this industry in the slightest way. However, I recently received one press release that not only caught my attention, it amazed me and inspired me to write this post about it.
It tells of a man named Paul Colbert, who is the president and CEO of Meridian Investigative Group, a workers comp investigation company. With more than a decade of experience, Paul has seen some of the worst workers comp fraud cases in history. Below are a few of the more severe ones he shared in the email (names have been changed):
- Kristy G: She alleged that her right foot was so injured that she couldn’t walk for for extended periods of time or be a productive member at her place of employment. Video caught her walking into the doctor’s office with her crutches and ambulatory aid for her ankle. Later, she was videotaped walking around without the crutches and holding her boot in her hand, trying to hit someone with it and then walking off quickly without any aid or signs of disability.
- Kathy V: Her alleged injury was to her neck and shoulders, and in her claim, she indicated that she gets regular injections in her arm for pain. Her pain was so severe, that she could not work. Video caught her riding in a rodeo competition on two different occasions, after her date of injury.
- Eddie R: His alleged injury was to his back, left ankle and heel. Again, his injuries were to such a degree that he could not work anymore. Video captured Eddie handily pushing his pickup truck after it stalled.
- Burt F: Burt filed a claim indicating the he was allegedly legally blind due to his workplace injury, but apparently not blind enough to prevent him from working as a maintenance man at an apartment complex. He was captured on video driving a golf cart and performing maintenance duties.
Do you know of any extreme workers comp fraud cases?
Similar Posts:
Emily Holbrook is co-editor of Risk Management Monitor and editor of Risk Management magazine, where she has worked since 2008. You can read more of her writings at EmilyHolbrook.com. You can follow her on Twitter @RiskMgmtMonitor.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
We had a guy who was going to go perm total for problems with his wrists. We caught him on surveillance teaching his kid how to use nunchucks!
Claimant had a back injury. His job involved lifting items up to 50lbs. He had low back surgery with extensive recovery time. During that recovery time he was video recorded participating in numerous Civil War re-enactments including the unloading and carrying of numerous miniature cannons weighing 120lbs. each. When the evidence was presented for a fraud charge at the state WC level, the judge told the parties to go out into the hall and work out a nuisance value settlement because he didn’t wanted to tie up his schedule with a fraud case. Not only did the guy not face criminal charges, he walked away with cash in his pocket. These are the major problems with fraud 1) Validly injured workers deciding to “milk it” 2) State systems going out of the way to make it difficult for carrier’s to pursue charges.
Often, most of the business becomes a victim of one or other type of internal frauds or scams because they ignore the necessity of putting a proper fraud deterrent and fraud prevention system in their business or organization thus they become the victim of the fraud done by one of their employees or any outsider. And it is where the role of a fraud and risk consultant starts.