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The wildest insurance fraud scheme in Texas

texasmonthly.com

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Re: The wildest insurance fraud scheme in Texas

#101

Post by xhkkffbf »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #49

I gotta say, ditching a small airplane 30 miles off shore in the Gulf of Mexico is a hell of a risky way to collect $50,000 in an insurance payout. You've got a lot of faith in your ability to make a "water landing", much less that someone comes out and gets you before something goes wrong.

Perhaps he just had someone let them jump off of a boat. They changed the serial number and resold the plane separately. Maybe the friend who dumped them off the boat was also the one who "rescued" them after a few hours. Who knows?

Re: The wildest insurance fraud scheme in Texas

#102

Post by rootsudo »

jacobush wrote: post #19
rootsudo wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue three. Anyone can get an interest in anything, can't they?

An interest in making money, you mean?

I had an insurance salesman tell me stories of how farmers/speculators insure crop against loss and how some people buy policies for the explicit expectation of profiting on bad weather years because the policies are quite inexpensive.

That's why I argue and can debate #3. I'm not an expect, I don't know how it works, this was a waaaaay ago (2015.)

So, you know, my personal anecdote changes perspective and that sort of mindthink.

Re: The wildest insurance fraud scheme in Texas

#103

Post by mcphage »

billfruit wrote: post #69
bluedevil2k wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand this comment at all. First of all, the first paragraph is about a suspicious plane fire - the plane literally burned in half sitting in a hangar. That should provide you some hint about what the fraud scheme is going to be. There's even an animated image of a plane on fire! Did you need the author to print "this is a story about insurance fraud" in big bold print at the top of the story? Secondly,…

The article fails to explain and make a case of why it is worthwhile to read this long an article. The article seems more interested in weaving a narrative than reporting the salient facets in a succinct form.

> The article seems more interested in weaving a narrative than reporting the salient facets in a succinct form.

Yes, that is what the article was intending to do.

Re: The wildest insurance fraud scheme in Texas

#104

Post by mcphage »

LudwigNagasena wrote: post #39
simonebrunozzi wrote: post #3

I don't want to read a novel before being able to understand what this is about. At least the article could provide a quick glimpse at what the fraud scheme is. I kept reading for 5-6 minutes and then lost interest.

No joke. 4 out of 5 times I open a news article on HN it is some kind of novella I have no interest in. In our age of short time spans and competition for attention you would think news magazines would be concise and to the point, I would even say, lapidary. But for some reason they became an outlet for graphomania?

> you would think news magazines would be concise and to the point, I would even say, lapidary. But for some reason they became an outlet for graphomania?

Some people enjoy reading.

Re: The wildest insurance fraud scheme in Texas

#105

Post by Frondo »

siberianbear wrote: post #99
InitialLastName wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My SO had an acquaintance try to convince her and her friends to join an airplane game scheme a week or two ago. I read the google drive PDF that they use to convince people, and it's terrifying how effectively it would prey on desperate people. Also crazy: nobody in the scam checks that NOT ONE of the people in that document (who mostly have unusual names) has a meaningful presence on the internet.

What is an airplane game scheme?

Looks like a pyramid scheme:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airplane_game

I'd love to see the document on the Google drive, though! OP, can you share it somehow?

Re: The wildest insurance fraud scheme in Texas

#106

Post by InitialLastName »

Frondo wrote: post #105
siberianbear wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is an airplane game scheme?

Looks like a pyramid scheme: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airplane_game I'd love to see the document on the Google drive, though! OP, can you share it somehow?

Couldn't find a more resilient/less sketchy way to rehost without breaking my half-hearted anonymization, so here's the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UvMeetDz-uEhxolTAGBrwh2hugt...

Hope I'm not blowing anyone up (well, not really. Scammers can drown in their own sewage).

I dug around for what I could, but there are a distinct lack of identifying details. I don't think I've seen a marketing PDF in a long time that didn't contain a single link. Looks like most of their coordination is done through Telegram groups and Zoom presentations, without an actual internet footprint.

Re: The wildest insurance fraud scheme in Texas

#107

Post by [deleted] »

zaroth wrote: post #51
Cederfjard wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely besides the point, but isn’t it unnecessary to use ”TFA” in this instance? Personally I’m not at all offended by strong language, but it just seems hostile for no reason.

To me 'TFA' means The Featured Article. Is there an abbreviation for that which is as widely known as TFA which doesn't have a negative potential interpretation (The Fucking Article)? 'OP' refers to the user who posted, not the post itself. The word 'Post' is I guess an OK but not great alternative.

[deleted]

Re: The wildest insurance fraud scheme in Texas

#108

Post by 0xffff2 »

Cederfjard wrote: post #60
zaroth wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me 'TFA' means The Featured Article. Is there an abbreviation for that which is as widely known as TFA which doesn't have a negative potential interpretation (The Fucking Article)? 'OP' refers to the user who posted, not the post itself. The word 'Post' is I guess an OK but not great alternative.

>To me 'TFA' means The Featured Article. Fair enough, I wasn’t aware/didn’t think of that. My mind went straight to ”the fucking article”, which is why it appeared hostile to me.

"TFA" is definitely "the fucking article". C.f. "RTFM": "Read the fucking manual".

Re: The wildest insurance fraud scheme in Texas

#109

Post by 0xffff2 »

>“Yes, I had around $35 million in fraudulent insurance claims around the world,” he wrote me

...

>He was also ordered to forfeit his Learjet and to pay $988,554.83 in restitution to various insurance companies

And they say crime doesn't pay. :/

Re: The wildest insurance fraud scheme in Texas

#110

Post by Frondo »

InitialLastName wrote: post #106
Frondo wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like a pyramid scheme: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airplane_game I'd love to see the document on the Google drive, though! OP, can you share it somehow?

Couldn't find a more resilient/less sketchy way to rehost without breaking my half-hearted anonymization, so here's the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UvMeetDz-uEhxolTAGBrwh2hugt... Hope I'm not blowing anyone up (well, not really. Scammers can drown in their own sewage). I dug around for what I could, but there are a distinct lack of identifying details. I don't think I've seen a marketing PDF in a long time…

This is fascinating reading, thanks so much for sharing!
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