Law enforcement agencies from several Metro Detroit suburbs connected through the Action Auto Theft Task Force have recently made a breakthrough in their investigation regarding the excessive amount of fraudulent auto-insurance policies circulating the Greater Detroit Area. Many of these false policies are believed to originate from four distinct Detroit homes, all of which were raided on November 25th and 26th and have resulted in the arrests of three women whom authorities believe to be key-factors in the fraudulent operation. Also discovered among st the seized properties were pieces of evidence indicative of a fraudulent check writing and identity theft operation.
Even with these recent advancements, odds are that the problem of fraudulent documentation will continue; this problem isn’t a new one according to Hamtramck Police Chief Max Garbarino: “Over the last couple of years we’ve been inundated with fraudulent policies.” Some estimates even place the industry of counterfeit insurance manufacturing and distributing at over $1 million in revenue. Garbarino supposes that the increasing frequency of fake policies is in part due to the fact that they are sold at discount prices often less than $100-a lucratively economical yet feloniously illegal undercut from the increasing insurance fees car owners in Metro Detroit have grown accustom to paying. It may also be in part due to the advent of digital/printable documentation which can easily be altered.
Garbarino states that the investigation is ongoing, and that even though the arrests of several major operatives were made in Detroit; that despite the geography, “they affect us”; us in Highland Park; us in Gross Pointe Park; us in Hamtramck, and anywhere close enough to be exposed to and enticed by inexpensive but fraudulent auto-insurance policies.