For years now the debate has been raging in the public media as to whether or not there is systemic fraud in the field of automobile accident and No-Fault insurance. Industry spokespersons have long been pointing to “phony” lawsuits and illegitimate claims pressed by felonious claimants and their dishonest lawyers and doctors, all with the purpose of invading the insurance policies that some of America’s largest and most profitable corporations sell to drivers at exorbitant rates. These industry mouthpieces have all the while been saying that it is the `fraud’ running rampant throughout these types of cases that is the driving force behind the rise in auto insurance rates to their present unconscionable levels, and that all that needs to be done to restore balance to the world of auto insurance - as well as fairer rates to the consumer - is to crack down on this fraud.

The 2007 Ohio Insurance Fraud Seminar will be conducted Thursday, March 15 at Quest Conference Centers, located at 8405 Pulsar Place in Columbus. The hosts are the Ohio Department of Insurance, the Ohio Chapter of the National Society of Professional Insurance Investigators (NSPII), the Ohio Chapter of the Insurance Association of Special Investigation Units (IASIU), and the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB).

Be it a staged accident, a doctor practicing without a license, or a clinic paying for patients, fraud investigation supervisor Blanca Aparicio will uncover the lies.

Philandering spouses, it seems, will go to great lengths to cover their tracks.

As a supervisor in charge of fraud investigations at United Automobile Insurance Group in North Miami Beach, Blanca Aparicio can attest to said lengths. She oversees 35 investigators nationally, with 15 of them in Florida alone.

After one husband reported his car stolen, Aparicio and her team discovered he’d been out for a night with his mistress and had hired someone to ditch his car in a canal after his wife started asking too many questions. The hotel bill, it turned out, was the cheapest tab of the night.

”They claim all sorts of crazy stuff,” Aparicio said. “Especially after a hurricane.”

State Insurance Commissioner Julie Benafield Bowman said Wednesday that a suspected insurance fraud ringleader, Frederick Watson, has turned himself in to Little Rock Police.

The state Insurance Department said Watson is alleged to have masterminded a car crash ring operation that defrauded insurance companies of hundreds of thousands of dollars over 12 years.

Among his alleged accomplices were his cousin, Mark Watson, and Rebekah Rahn, both of whom were arrested Monday.

You might groan each time you get your car insurance bill, knowing it’s a necessary evil.

But you may not know that you’re actually over paying for protection thanks, in part, to scammers. One in three car insurance claims from crashes is likely fraudulent due to staged accidents and other schemes. WAVE 3’s Carrie Weil has more on insurance fraud.

Car accidents happen every day, in every town — and so does insurance fraud. “It is so hard to get people interested in this issue because people think it’s OK,” said Julie McPeak, Executive Director of the Kentucky Department of Insurance.

In fact, in a national survey, one in four Americans said it’s OK to defraud insurance companies. But think about this: insurance fraud adds about $300 a year to your insurance premiums.

Car insurance rates are dropping significantly — and how much you save depends on where you live.

And you can thank a small group of determined investigators for saving you money.

You could call Maureen O’Connell the “Nancy Drew” of insurance fraud.

It’s her job to investigate auto insurance claims and weed out the bad guys.

“We have investigated attornies, chiropractors, people who are very educated, people not very educated, commiting insurance fraud affects a wide range of individuals,” said O’Connell.

Part of CFO Sink’s 3-day crackdown on insurance fraud

After several months of investigations, dozens of suspects from Pensacola to Miami will be arrested the week of January 22nd for insurance fraud schemes that totaled at least $1 million. Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink announced the three-day operation as it kicked off Tuesday, stating she wants to send a strong message that Florida will not tolerate this costly crime.

In Miami, an early-morning sweep already netted three arrest of suspects accused of bilking the insurance industry on Tuesday.

Scofflaws beware: A new task force has been formed to combat auto insurance fraud in Revere.

In an effort to reduce the number of fraudulent insurance claims, the state’s Insurance Fraud Bureau has established a Community Insurance Fraud Initiative in the city, unveiling billboards with a hot line number for local fraud tips. The announcement was made Monday at the site of one of the billboards at 430 Broadway.

“The IFB will dedicate one full-time investigator to this effort in Revere and will partner with the Revere Police Department to bring the full effect of the IFB’s resources and databases to the community,” said Daniel J. Johnston, executive director of the Insurance Fraud Bureau. “We are pleased to bring this program to Revere, and we recognize that this is not a one- or two-month project. We are dedicated to maintaining it into the future.”

Eighty-six people were arrested on suspicion of bilking insurance companies out of more than $500,000 in one of the largest auto insurance fraud cases ever filed in Los Angeles County, the District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

The 200-plus-count indictments allege employees from 12 law offices in the San Gabriel Valley referred clients who had been in auto accidents to chiropractors and worked out a system to overcharge insurance companies.

Insurance settlements were then distributed by the law offices to the client, law office and chiropractor clinics, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

More than 100 people were indicted for allegedly participating in the scheme, including 13 office administrators, two attorneys and 87 insurance claimants.

A man and his mother were arrested Wednesday on charges they used their Lehigh Acres insurance company to commit fraud and grand theft.

Micki Regas, 45, of Cape Coral and Patricia Regas, 72, of Lehigh Acre, own and operate Tradewinds Title Inc. The pair were charged with larceny grand theft and swindling to obtain property. Micki Regas was also charged with insurance fraud.

It’s not the first time the Regas family has faced accusations such as these. In 2001, Micki Regas and his sister, Vicki Wright, were sued for misappropriating funds, but the matter was settled out of court. As a result, Micki Regas surrendered the license of his title insurance business, Fleetwood Title.

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