Photo by Noah Sussman
A man in Tioga County, New York called his insurance company. He reported his washing machine’s hose broke and his whole basement flooded and his personal items had extreme water damage. Thank goodness he had flood insurance because he filed a claim for his damaged television stand, parts of a sound system, and couch. The man’s flood insurance would have come in handy if all his reports were true.
An insurance company is not going to hand over a check to any person that claims they have sustained water damage in the home. Claims are always investigated. Upon investigation, it was found that the TV stand and sound system were not damaged by water…and they did not even belong to the man making the false claim. The couch that was said to have sustained flood damage was found to not even have been in the basement at the time of the flooding.
The report of the flooded basement due to the broken washing machine hose was true. The New York man making the report could have probably received payment for an honest flood insurance claim to remediate any wet carpets or wet documents or prevent mold damage. But instead, he now gets to face 4th-degree insurance fraud charges, a 1st-degree charge on the count of faking business records, and a possible 4-year jail sentence: all this over trying to get $5,300 in “free” cash. When it comes to flood insurance claims, the insurance companies will not be fooled. More on this story.
Tags: flood insurance, flooded basement, prevent mold damage