South Africans Hire Dead Corpses To Trick Life insurers. South Africans are supposedly hiring and purchasing dead corpses to fraudulently get to claim funeral benefits.
South Africans are supposedly hiring and purchasing dead corpses to fraudulently get to claim funeral benefits. This is according to the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa’s report. Life insurers are said to have not accepted 1915 funeral claims, costing an estimate of R176 million in 2018.
1127 of the rejected claims were discovered to have included fake documentation. Seven of the cases rejected were thus discovered to have been the cause of the policyholder’s passing away and 156 fake claims portrayed syndicate involvement. Funeral policies don’t need blood tests and medical investigations. Funeral policies were created to pay out in a speedily manner when an insured member passes away.
Donovan Herman, the convenor of the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa Claims Standing Committee, says, “Unfortunately, this makes it tempting for criminals and dishonest individuals to take out funeral cover for people who do not exist with the intention of later submitting claims using death certificates issued for dead bodies rented or bought for the purpose of committing fraud. If we allow fraudulent and dishonest claims, honest policyholders will ultimately end up footing the bill through higher premiums driven by untenable claims rates.” He says the life insurers owe the honest policyholders to protect the the longe-term insurance model by averting fraud and lies.
by Alexandra Ramaite
