MPI releases first “top frauds” list

To bring fraud fighting into the spotlight, Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI), the province’s government auto insurer, has released its first ever “top five frauds” list.Topping the list is a Winnipeg man who dumped and set fire to his mother’s car rather than buy her a new one. Investigation by MPI’s special investigation unit (SIU) resulted in the man begin ordered to pay a $2,500 fine plus $537 restitution.Yet another man set fire to his company vehicle, destroying the vehicle plus the night deposit from the fast food restaurant he managed, about $5,000. The man not only faces paying restitution of $8,000 to his employer and $11,000 to MPI, but also an 18-month conditional sentence.A $400 fine and $200 in costs were the result for a Steinbach man who claimed his vehicle had been struck in a hit-and-run when it was proven the vehicle had actually struck a concrete surface.A man who reported his 1978 Camaro stolen was later convicted of fraud under $5,000 and received a one-year sentence when the SIU discovered the Camaro had been observed being stripped for parts weeks before the claim was filed.And rounding out the list is a man who claimed injury after his vehicle was rear-ended, but who tipped off investigators with comments made in a newspaper article about his growing one-man business. When it was found the “injured” man was performing tasks such as loading trucks and building pallets, he plead guilty to fraud under $5,000 and ordered to pay restitution of $2,996 to MPI.MPI estimates that SUI investigations saved its policyholders about $5 million in 2002-2003 based on money recovered and claims denied. In 2003, 93 charges were laid against 61 people. And between March 2002 and February 2003, Manitoba’s courts handed down $46,000 in fines and $127,416 in restitution.