Giant fraud scam in Italy
Giant fraud scam in Italy
A massive police operation called “Tantalo bis” was started in 2018 after Palermo’s District Attorneys office input to stop a very dangerous criminal organization perpetrating insurance fraud by limb amputation of compliant victims.
The Trapani and Palermo (Southern Italy) investigation police offices has brought to light a large number of crimes targeting insurance companies. Hundreds of people weere arrested or are under investigation including a lawyer who was in charge of of those false accidents legal aspects.
The alleged crimes are fraud, conspiracy, aggravated assault, swindle, extorsion and embezzlement.
The injured compliant individuals were usually people in financial need with low or no income and while giving them a little compensation criminal organizations received high reimbursement from insurance companies for serious bodily damage which often consist of permanent disabilities. There are some witnesses that declare about arms and legs broken with bricks and the tariffs paid to the injured : few hundreds euro for an arm, almost one thousand euro for an arm and a leg …. It was a real torture, discovered because one of these poor and desperate persons died in an hospital because of the received injuries
It is estimated that the criminal organizaztion made a profit of over 2.6 milion euros frauding not only insurance companies but also the National Health Service and consequently the entire community-
Operation “Tantalo bis” is involving more than 200 Finance police officers of Palermo and Lecce.
A Career through IASIU
Little did I know when I was 18 years of age and starting my law enforcement career in the Netherlands what the future held? Initially, it was great making it through training and becoming a police officer and thought I would be doing this the rest of my life!
However, life changes, and getting older, wiser and getting married (and having children) I changed my view on my career and future. I started to look for information on careers outside the government. In doing so, I got in contact with smaller private investigation firms and yes, I learnt there many opportunities outside than my then current government job. I realised that I needed to step out of the, sometimes ridged, government organization, where I had worked for over 16 years, and find a different, commercial professional environment to work in.
In 2008 I was approached by Interpolis/Achmea, the biggest insurance company in the Netherlands, to join their SIU and it was only a matter of weeks before I joined. A few months into my new job, one of my colleagues told me about the IASIU, which I joined in 2009 and attended my first seminar in 2010 in Bad Kreuznach Germany. This was to become the new foundation for my current career.
At the Bad Kreuznach seminar, I met several interesting people from different parts of the world, whom I stayed in contact with on both a personal and professional basis. As a result of this networking, I was able to help them with information and conversely, I could reach out to them for assistance.
Moreover, membership of IASIU, has also enabled me to be able to reach out to people that I do not know but are IASIU members.
For example, while conducting an investigation I needed to determine if certain information was correct. The challenge was that the information needed to be verified in another country. However, through the contact list of IASIU, I reached out to an IASIU member in that specific country and introduced myself as a fellow IASIU member. Within 30 minutes I received a response together with the information I needed! At that time, I had left Interpolis and the company that I was then working for (a small private firm), was both surprised and impressed by the value of my IASIU membership in assisting with investigations. It was seen as really added value.
Over the years I stayed in touch with my IASIU friends and sometime in 2013 I was approached by one of them. He was working for a company and ask me to start working for them. And from then things quickly progressed. In 2014 I founded my own company and from 2016 I’m now fully self-employed and am currently working for three different companies. I met all of these companies through IASIU.
In my opinion, my experience demonstrates the true value of IASIU. It’s about sharing knowledge, helping each other and making great friends all over the world. I’ve only attended IASIU seminars from the Europe chapter up until now, but I’m exploring the possibilities to join the 2017 seminar in New Orleans. I’m hoping to meet you there.
Best regards,
Joost Kersten
Successful IASIU Europe Seminar 2016
With more than 200 attendees, 24 speakers and 19 supporters from 20 different countries from all over the world IASIU Europe conducted its 8th Seminar on Insurance Fraud in Vienna from June 13-15.
It was a pleasure to see so many people talking about the latest trends in insurance fraud, strengthening their existing network and using the opportunity to make new contacts and friends. According to the number of attendees it was one of our most successful seminars in the recent history of IASIU Europe. The popularity of the IASIU seminar also reflects that insurance fraud is still a big challenge for the whole industry and this challenge is still growing as insurance fraud does not stop at the borders and is becoming more and more an international business.
The right answer for fighting cross border fraud is a global network of fraud fighters that act as one team and that is IASIU.
