IBC “top ten” insurance crimes list no laughing matter

The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is using its annual “top ten” insurance crimes list as a chance to educate rather than amuse this year. In particular, the IBC is focusing on the crime of auto theft and its potentially deadly results as a way of lobbying for stricter penalties for auto theft crimes.
The IBC points to three fatalities in the past few weeks across the country which have resulted from collisions with stolen vehicles. “These people are no longer with us because of the inadequacy of our laws to address the violent and serious nature of the crime of auto theft,” says Rick Dubin, vice president of investigations with the IBC.
The IBC wants the federal government to tighten up the Criminal Code and Youth Criminal Justice Act to make auto theft a specific, violent crime with stiffer punishment including jail time. It notes that Nova Scotia Minister of Justice Michael Baker recently joined the call for this reform, and will pitch his message to his federal and provincial counterparts in late January.
The IBC’s top ten list of insurance crimes includes a paralegal who would settle auto insurance claims in favor of the claimant and then keep some or all of the settlement for himself. Another incident involves a rock band staging a fake auto accident to collect more than $150,000, but when the band went on tour instead of going to rehabilitation, as they claimed, they were caught. And yet another involves the largest bust of a chop shop operation in Canadian history, involving a husband and wife team whose shop housed more than $5 million in stolen cars and parts.
The full list can be found at www.ibc.ca.