CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – State investigators arrested a Coral Springs girl Wednesday after accusing her of main an enormous automotive insurance fraud scheme whilst running as a claims adjuster.
According to the place of work of state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, whose Bureau of Insurance Fraud investigated the case, Angela Marie Augustine made 1,255 fraudulent bills to no less than 326 co-conspirators within the $11.6 million hustle.
In a news free up Thursday, government stated between December 2018 and October 2022, Augustine, 41, “re-opened numerous previously closed or settled claims.”
They stated Augustine “fabricated claims on auto insurance policies creating fictitious claimants and documented fictitious scenarios, along with fake documentation, including photos and repair estimates where alleged fictitious claimants suffered damages to either vehicle or other property, to issue liability claim payments.”
She would then “adjust reserves to support the false documentation and make payments on the claim in the amount matching the falsified documentation. In furtherance of the alleged fraud, the co-conspirators would cash the fraudulent insurance proceeds at a local check-cashing store,” investigators stated.
Following their probe, investigators arrested Augustine on fees together with scheme to defraud, grand robbery and felony use of non-public information.
“Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime. It runs up insurance rates for every motorist on Florida’s roadways. It’s especially disturbing when committed by a claims adjuster entrusted with sensitive financial information,” Patronis stated in a news free up Thursday. “I’m thankful to my fraud detectives and the Broward County State Attorney’s Office for their hard work on this case and for ensuring this scam artist is brought to justice.”
He added: “We will not stand by and let bad actors use your insurance policy as their personal meal ticket. They will be caught, and they will be thrown in jail.”
Officials be expecting to make further arrests.
Augustine faces as much as 55 years at the back of bars, officers stated. She used to be now not indexed in Broward County prison data as of Thursday afternoon.
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