Pet Fraud: Pets Being Killed for the Insurance Money

If you've been in a veterinarian's office, pet store or kennel anytime lately you've probably seen brochures and posters for pet insurance and while this should have been a great idea it's also given people who are less than honest a way to make money by filing false claims.

According to The Telegraph, "Pet insurance fraud has almost quadrupled in the space of a year, with some owners even killing their animals to get payouts."

"Figures from the Association of British Insurers show there was £1,929,900 worth of pet insurance fraud detected last year - up from just £420,000 in 2009."

Owners are able to insure their animals and then commit fraud by getting rid of the animal, outright killing it or the animal may be fictitious and never existed in the first place.

In order to get pre-existing injuries covered they are injuring their pets in fake accidents or hurting their animals so they can collect the insurance money.

Because almost any type of animal can be insured, the claims can be hard to prove and this type of insurance fraud could see many more false claims before it is stopped.

According to The New York Times, "Experts are also questioning the involvement of veterinarians, who might prescribe unnecessary and expensive medicine or treat animals who are not actually sick in order to collect money."

One reason this is so easy to do is because veterinarian records can be hard to trace and some uninsured animals are being treated on insured animals policies without anyone knowing. Another way claims are being collected are for lost or stolen pets who either never existed, are given away or owners are killing the animals and disposing the bodies so they are never found.

Sources:
http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/11/15/a-new-level-of-fraud-pets-are-getting-killed-for-the-insurance-money/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/pets/8886166/Owners-killing-their-pets-to-get-insurance-payouts.html