Ep 04: Fictitious People Policies & The $10K Fake Document Scheme

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Welcome to Fraud, Facts and Life Insurance with Agent Verified, the podcast that dives into the wild world of life insurance gone wrong. Every week, we peel back the curtain on real cases of financial chaos and help you spot the red flag before it's too late. We'll share what went wrong, why it happened, and how to protect yourself by working with the right agent. Hey, let's face it. These stories might have ended very differently if only they'd used agentverified.com. hey.

Hey.

Welcome back.

Welcome back. The chickens and I are here to welcome you back.

I know, right? Wow.

Fraud facts and life insurance. Guys, if you hear chickens in the background, we just wanted to take a moment to explain. So I live in Hawaii. The way that I best explain this is. Have you ever seen the movie Moana? And there is. It's like the crazy chicken in Moana that just squawks all the time. And before I moved to Hawaii, I remember thinking, that's very random to have a chicken. The. Okay, Disney. Like, all right. It was then I moved to Hawaii, and I was like, oh. The chicken is like the representation of the Pacific Islands. They roam free. I wish that they did. They're really annoying. They're so annoying. But anyone that's been to Hawaii knows the chickens. So if you hear a chicken, just know that is. They're saying aloha. And make sure that you use Agent Verified for your. It can be very disconcerting. Javon, you know, I'm on with a client. I'm on with an agent. There's a chicken going crazy.

I don't think I still get used to it. And I grew up near chickens that. Not in my yard or anything, but around the way. And I'm like, you get used to it, but yours is like, blue. But. But, Betsy, we really. But like, we left last episode. We left it like, wow. And I know they'll. I'm. I'm sure they'll get why the chickens are doing the chicken thing, but we gotta hear how that one ended like that.

Okay, Are you ready?

I am ready.

Are you ready, guys?

In case you did not remember, you are here with fraud facts and life insurance. And let's start from the top. This is. Wow. That's full. This is brought to you by agent verified.com.

A Pennsylvania agent found to be selling fictitious life insurance policies is providing more ammunition for critics of Globe Life Insurance Company. Jenna Rula of Hanover Township, Pennsylvania, allegedly submitted 13 fraudulent life insurance applications between November 14, 2018 and June 27, 2023. According to an April 29 consent order from the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance. Three of those applications involved fictitious people. Grula, a longtime producer with American Income Life Insurance Company, a Globe Life subsidiary, voluntary surrendered her insurance license. The company fired Grula on October 2023 for filing the fraudulent applications. Respondent intentionally altered the applicant names, addresses, telephone phone numbers, Social Security numbers, dates of births, and bank information on the life insurance policy applications to the insurance company, American Income Life's internal processes, making it impossible to contact the individuals or verify the application information. A pair of recent reports accuse American Income Life producers of widespread insurance fraud, including writing policies for dead and fictitious people and an alleged kickback scheme that netted millions for senior executives.

The moral of the story is you should always make sure that your life insurance agent is verified on agent verified.com if you need a life insurance agent.

Okay, what did we just watch?

Whoa. I was all happy that they fired.

Her, but wow, they threw her under the bus.

Yeah, like she took the. The rap for every. All right, one more.

Wow.

Okay, okay, okay. Let's watch it again.

A Pennsylvania agent found to be selling fictitious life insurance policies is providing more ammunition for critics of Globe Life Insurance.

All right, so here we go. Hold on, hold on, Han. So, okay, okay, so that's what it is. She said she's providing the ammunition. So she's talking now, too. So she did it, but now she's talking.

Oh, she's like a whistleblower.

Yeah, she's the whistle. She got caught. She got caught. They got caught.

So she flipped. So she flipped on everybody else.

Wow.

Okay, okay. Gorilla. Okay. Wow.

But, yeah, let's. This. Wow.

This is.

Whoa. Okay. Pennsylvania allegedly submitted 13 fraudulent life insurance applications.

13. I think I missed that.

Yeah, I thought it made it feel like it was. So she really was like four, I thought.

For some reason, I thought it said four.

No, 13. Just 13. But 13. To uncover the whole thing. Like, that's. But what was she think. Good.

Okay. What? Okay.

November 14, 2018, and June 27, 2023, according to an April 29th consent order from the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance, three of those applications involved fictitious people. Brula, a long time producer with American Income Life Insurance Company, a Globe Life subsidiary with voluntary surrendered her insurance license. The company fired.

Okay. Voluntarily.

Yeah. You fought, you got fired, Your name is all in the papers, and I guess you decide to leave the industry.

Damage control. Damage control is all I can think of. Oh, well, yeah. I mean, at least. Okay, well, yeah, like you said, let's.

Keep watching October 2023 for filing the fraudulent applications respondent intentionally altered the applicant. Names, addresses, telephone phone numbers, Social Security numbers, dates of births, and bank information on the life insurance policy application. Insurance company. All right, American Income.

Do they not know how much information is out there that the insurance companies know more about the people than then the people tell us? Creating, like, I mean, I'm. I'm sitting there.

No wonder it didn't work.

Yeah, it wouldn't have worked because they know everything. They literally send, like, I have an agent that put in the wrong date of birth. And the company is like, we don't have that as the correct date of birth. Like, they know the answer. This is just. And she's. I thought this was a new person. She is. They said a seasoned person.

Like, if you're trying to do. It's like, it won't work with life insurance because they're checking.

They're checking everything. Everything.

These carriers, Javon, are some of the biggest players. Industry of data, of money, of, like, people don't understand how massive life insurance carriers are. Like, they lend money to Banking Institute. They like, they are so big. So you, you're. You. You can't just be like, oh, it's an insurance carrier. I'll sweep it under the rug.

Like, yeah, okay.

No. So, yeah. No wonder she got.

Life'S internal processes making it impossible to contact the individuals or verify the application information. A pair of recent reports accuse American Income Life producers of widespread insurance fraud, including writing policies for dead and fictitious people.

Okay, all right. So, okay, so, so, so it's not her. She didn't tell. It was more reports, more whistleblowing about what was happening internally. So we love American Income Life, so we're going to.

I know.

I feel like we need to make sure the word is alleged. We don't know anything about the alleged is not Groula, but okay.

We're not here to pass judgment on it.

Alleged millions for senior executives.

The moral of the story is you should always make sure that your life insurance agent is verified on agent verified.com.

Always.

If you need a life insurance agent, choose from thousands of agents and brokers by visiting ww.agentverified.com Agent Verified. Licensed, insured. Verified.

Wow.

Whoa.

I. I just love how they. She voluntarily. What else can you do besides she voluntarily?

I mean, everybody else is going to jail, but she surrendered her life.

Wow.

All right, all right, gorilla.

Good, good.

Thank you for leaving. The end. Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, man. Yeah. So, you know, how can. How can people protect themselves from. From this? Well, first of all, if you're not fictitious. You're probably safe.

If you got a pulse, you're probably safe. And.

Oh, my gosh. But, you know, just like, wow. You know, just. Just being careful with where you're putting your information. And, you know, whenever you're working with an agent, you know, just making sure that they're with agent verified, you know, because they're. They're the ones that have been vetted, that have gone through this, you know, because, hey, sure, your information, when it gets out there, can be out there, but just take those precautions, you know, don't be. Don't be sharing stuff over the phone with people that you can't verify, that you can't know where they're coming from just because. Yeah, there's some crazy people out there.

Yeah. And American Income is a good company, and we don't want you to think that they're. They're a really good company. So I'm glad that they had some positive agents step up to tell, you know, others, and they're handling that. But I really liked how they just fired her, you know, because those 13 policies could have turned into 13,000 policies very quickly when you think that no one's watching. So the fact that they move swift again is why I love the industry and, you know, everyone, you know, act fast, got the bad. We have bad apples everywhere, you know, and that's just like every industry, and that's why we created this, so that we can highlight the good ones and you can be prepared on what the look for.

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All right, Betsy. Man, who did you help this week? Who did you guys help this week? Your team this week? What kind of value did you provide in the industry this week?

Well, always trying to provide value. It seems like our team this week was doing a lot of final expense policies with the leads that were coming through. They were uncovering, like, what the Agent what the clients were needing and kind of just where they were falling. So what is final expense? Final expense is maybe you're a little bit older, 60s, 70s. I actually have one lady that was. She an agent, helped someone that was 82 that didn't have any life insurance. Life insurance in place, which is pretty cool. So final expense is like, hey, you know that there's going to be some expenses after you pass away, there's going to be burial, there's your funeral. You know, just the whole idea of, hey, my family's got to, you know, wrap up my home. Or if you're in a care facility or independent living, they need to clean out your room, you know, before you have to pay for another month or something. So instead of your family incurring all of those costs with final expense, you're leaving your family anywhere from $5,000 to, let's say, 40, $50,000 just to take care of all of those final expenses. So that's why we call it a final policy.

Yeah. And. And really just to highlight a lot of. I like the final expense policies as well, because their whole life. Right. So, you know, a lot of people, I think they get kind of confused with getting final, wanting their final expenses paid for, but then they put it on a term policy. Right. If. And it doesn't make sense because those don't match. Those don't match. Right. Unless, you know you're going to die within those 10, 10, 15 years that I would probably switch it to, not have to put the clock, clock, you know, put the time clock on my death and, you know, do a whole life policy. But it's funny you mentioned the final expenses on the final expense side. My team as well, we did primarily all whole life policies this week as well. The cool part that we are able to help, and I'm sure you guys, is that the final expense policies with living benefits. So these seniors were healthier. They were healthier. So it wasn't like, you know, they just were down and out and they were able to get the coverage that allowed them to also use that money if they had a heart attack, if they developed cancer, if they had a stroke, if they had kidney failure before they died, they had access to that policy up front before they died. I can't find a better word than death.

This is our industry. We have. If we can't talk about it, you know, it's the reality of what we do, you know, But I think it's so valuable to be able to do this. It's honestly you know? Yeah, people do get uncomfortable talking about it. You don't want to think about it. I had one lady say, oh, well, I don't want to put something in place. It's like, I'm planning for my mom to die. And so we just kind of had to be like, you know, hey, at some point, this is going to happen to all of us. And so when that happens, your mom doesn't want you to have to be carrying all this burden. And so it was actually kind of neat, like facilitating a conversation between mom and daughter. You know, I think that's what's so interesting about being a life insurance agent is you're actually helping. Helping families have conversations that they've never had before. I remember when I first started, I was like, am I, like, a counselor now? Yeah, I was like, I'm a pastor's wife, and I've, like, done these things, but it's just a totally different context, you know, and so, like, just helping. Helping them talk through, like, hey, this is. This is why it's so important for your mom to be doing this. And. And, you know, just. Just hearing them share and just, like, watch that relationship get even deeper as they. As they understand together. Wow, this is how much my mom loves me. And, wow, this is how much my daughter loves me. She doesn't even want to think about me passing away. Like, so it was just actually this beautiful family moment, and. And I got to be a part of it, which was so, you know, special. But just say, like, hey, all we're doing here is just putting this protection in place so that when that sad time comes, your daughter's able to grieve and, you know, letting her realize, like, hey, you'll have time to grieve and space to not have to worry about. Okay, I gotta put my childhood home on the market because there's no money to pay the bill, you know, so it ended up being, like, a really awesome thing. But, you know, it can be difficult for families to talk about that.

You had it. I remember I was speaking to a client, and she said something, Betsy. That annoyed the living daylights out of me. I hate. I figured out what. I hate this line when people say this, please, guys, don't tell this to me whenever I'm going, like, I'm serious. Like, I'm fired up.

Oh, no, I'm waiting. What is it? What is it?

She said out of her mouth? We were going over how much coverage and she says, I don't want to make anyone rich. And I'm literally I was so annoyed because as a parent, like, I don't want them to be rich while I'm here. I mean, without working for it.

But we all know that, you know.

That I want to see my kids, right? But if I'm no longer here and the last thing I can do is make my child rich, like, how much do you hate your kids that you don't want to make them rich when you're no longer here? Oh, that. It, it ticked me off when she said that. I knew what she meant, but. And I think it's like a defense mechanism that they don't want to go high in coverage. But just. Guys, people, as you're hearing this, please write in. Tell us, why would you not want to make the person that you birthed and raised and developed, why would you not want to make them rich? And in life insurance is the number one way you can guarantee that they can be rich. Now, obviously, final expense is to take care of just your final expenses, but you can get other policies on top of your final expenses and to make sure that you transfer wealth. What? I mean, my dad passed away when I was 19. I wish he would have made me rich.

That actually would have been great, right?

Like, please let me cry in hundred dollar bills like I would forever. Like, I'm just saying, it's so annoying when people think like that and I'm like, that is so stupid to tell somebody. Like, what does that. Like, my, Like, I can sleep at night knowing God's my witness. I don't know rich is relative. But they would be at least be 200 to 400,000 up before the assets. Like, that's just facts. This is the facts part of the conversation. They would at least be 200 to 400 and then whatever Auntie Betsy wants to give them on top of everything else, you know.

Okay, we'll. We'll talk later. Auntie Betsy's making sure that her kids and all of our ministry partners. Awesome. But yeah, so, you know, anyway, so, guys, all that to say lots of different types of life insurance policies. Yes. We were able to help a lot of families this week with final expense. Always funny stories from the life insurance industry. So send us your questions. Send us a funny story if you've got one. We'd love to comment on it here on the air. All right, we will see you in just a moment. And we're going to look at another story. I don't know whether to be excited or nervous, but we'll be back looking for more time, more income and More purpose. The Aloha program is hiring motivated individuals to join our fast growing team of virtual life insurance agents. We provide the training, leads, and support you bring the drive, work from anywhere, build real skills, and earn what you're worth. Ready to level up? Visit www.thealoha program.com and apply today. The Aloha Program, where your future meets freedom. Okay, and we are back. We've got another story for you. All right, here we go.

I'm scared. I'm scared. What did they do?

This is. This is the opening scene. So I don't even know what to think about.

Can you full screen it? Betsy, can you full screen it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me full screen it. Get a point. All right, here we go.

This is brought to you by agentverified.com.

A Polk county insurance agent who admitted to falsifying insurance policy documents will not spend additional time in jail. Nicholas Minot of Grimes was sentenced by a judge to a six year suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to the crime. In addition to the suspended sentence, Mano was ordered to pay restitution for the fraudulent activities. According to prosecutors, Mano orchestrated a scheme in which he created fake insurance policies and sold them to unsuspecting customers. The fraudulent documents allowed him to collect payments for coverage that did not exist. Prosecutors say the scheme netted mano more than $10,000 before the deception was uncovered. The case highlights the growing concern over insurance fraud and the potential consequences for those who engage in such activities. While Mano will not serve jail time, his conviction and the restitution order serve as a reminder that fraudulent actions in the insurance industry can have serious legal and financial repercussions.

The moral of the story is you should always make sure that your life insurance agent is verified on agentverified.com if you need a life insurance agent, choose from thousands of agents and brokers by visiting ww.agentverified.com Agent Verified. Licensed, insured, verified.

I don't know how I feel about the no jail time, Betsy.

Well, yeah, it's probably because they found out and they said it was less than 10,000. So I'm thinking that's why.

Oh, I didn't catch that.

Because they caught it. Okay, let's. Let's. Because, yeah, I'm not. I wasn't sure how I felt neither. I was like, okay, maybe it's because of the amount. But let's. Let's watch it again. Maybe we'll get some more insights.

Polk county insurance agent who admitted to falsifying insurance policy documents will not spend Additional time in jail. Nicholas Minow of Grimes was sentenced by a judge to a six year suspended prison sentence after pleading guilty to the crime in addition to the suspended sentence.

Well, probably. If he pleaded guilty, then there was probably some sort of, like, what's it. What's the word that they call it? Some sort of. Yeah, yeah, yeah, because. Yeah, that's probably what it was. Because he. I mean, he was obviously guilty, but. Yeah, that's probably it. But six years of a suspended sentence, That's. That's a lot.

Yeah, that's. That's kind of like you gotta be. You gotta ask permission. Like.

Yeah, you have to.

Mano was ordered to pay restitution for the fraudulent activities. According to prosecutors, Mino orchestrated a scheme in which he created fake insurance policies and sold them to unsuspecting customers.

Like this. Right.

The fraudulent documents allowed him to collect.

This is just dumb. Like.

Like, fake documents.

Fake.

Doc. It is. You can make the same money by actually getting.

Doing the real thing.

Doing the real thing. Like, and feel more fulfilling and not.

Have to plead guilty and go have.

A prison sentence and have a felony and be on fraud facts and life insurance of a.

What? Like, it's like when I was teaching Javon and these students would cheat and I'd be like. It literally would have actually taken less effort to just do the assignment the first time. And now you're in trouble.

Like, makes no sense.

Like, it's not making sense here, you know? But people always try to get a shortcut, you know? And guess what? It doesn't work. It didn't work in high school math class. It's not gonna work.

Yeah.

Here. As an insurance agent, right.

Collect payments for coverage that did not exist. Prosecutors say the scheme netted Mano more.

Okay, can we just. Can we just say it again here? You should not be giving your life insurance agent your premium.

Premiums.

Yeah, like, if they are asking you, oh, yeah, just send me the money and I'll take care of it. No, that's a red flag.

Red flag.

We need. We need, like, red flags.

That's what we. That is good. Maybe next season. Next season. Let us know if we have red flag.

Red flag. Red flag. All of your documents, all of your payments, everything should be coming from the branded life insurance carrier, not from. And you can go to their website and see what the doctor looks like.

Sometimes the carriers might not have websites, but, guys, guess what? You can call them. And you should call them when your policies come in. You do your assessment with the. With the agent and then Just double back and call the 1-800-number. Call the customer service call and confirm everything that they told you over the. There it is. They work for you. They're your new partner. The agent just set it up. But they're your new partner and just have peace of mind. This is crazy. I mean, and I hate that this guy allegedly put people to have to double check. But that's why we're here, you know, to let you know what to do so that you can sleep at night. Because it shouldn't be this way, but we're here.

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That is true. Well, you know what you can even do, too, if people are, like, really nervous too, about their agent, you know, your agent is going to have an agent number with that carrier, so you can ask them for that number. And you can also verify your agent with that carrier and you can check on agent verified to see. It says like, hey, these are the carriers that we're contracted with. That's one of the sections in Agent verified on their profile. But you can also check and see like, hey, this is my agent. They said this is their writing number. I just want to confirm that they are, in fact an agent with you. You know, you can verify all of that stuff. And again, like Javon said, the carrier is working for you. So don't be afraid to ask those questions. That just shows that you're on top, you know, that just shows that you're on top of things and you're not going to let someone fraud you. Defraud. Yeah, that's the right word. Sorry. Okay, here we go.

More than $10,000 before the deception was uncovered. The case highlights the growing concern over insurance fraud and the potential consequences for those who engage in such activities. Serve as a reminder that fraudulent actions in the insurance industry can have serious legal and financial repercussions.

The moral of the story is you.

Yeah, that's. That's good. They, they. They caught him early. Allegedly. Well, he pleaded guilty, so he did.

We don't have to say, yeah, he pleaded guilty, but, yeah, I think that's why it was just the suspended sentence, because it was less than 10. They said less than $10,000. That's not, like, super legal.

And they got him out of there.

Yeah, and they got him out, so good stuff. Good job, Good job, good job. Pope County.

Yeah.

Getting them out of there.

Get them out of there. Let's keep the good players in. All right.

Talking about good players, Betsy, our team is on fire.

I mean, I know.

I mean, it's like, we got agents, new writers coming out of so many different industries. One that I'm excited about this week. She. She was like, I don't want to go back to work. Like, she's like, I'm. I'm on leave. I'm on leave. I don't want to go back to work. This has to work. And Betsy, she sat and, you know, she's a part of my Take Flight program where I provide the leads and the system, and she just. And the part I love about the program is that we provide the leads, we provide this, the system and the training and everything, but she. She's come to work, you know, and, like. And it's like she has the. The dedicated shift that she's want to work so that we can allocate leads there. And I'm like, are you working tomorrow? She's like, I'm technically not supposed to, but I got people to see. Right. And all Virtual mom. And her goal is to make more than her husband by the neck by the end of next month. Right. So she's.

Okay.

Okay.

Like, that's, like, not end of the.

Year, like, next month. I want to make more than my husband next month, so that Totally, totally good. And she's our agent of the week, so super, super excited of her, but again, you know, and just excited to. To see that new blood, that new energy coming into the industry, and she just fired up everyone, you know, so that's phenomenal. How about over there with you guys, man?

We're. Whew. We're getting so many new agents in. You and I were top of leaderboards this week. One and two.

Yeah. You just happen to be one.

I'm just saying. I'm just, just saying.

I was in the chat, I was like, if anyone had to be number one for me not to be mad, it would probably be Betsy Bart. But I was like. I was texting my builders, like, we let Betsy beat us, and it's all of us. And I was like, yeah, whatever.

Love it. Love it. What was really awesome this week was I've got one of my new agents that came in. He actually comes from the life insurance industry, but he was super interested in the Aloha program because of the leads and the structured shifts, like you said, and, you know, providing the resources, providing the dialer, all of that. He has come in and just, like, re. Energized the whole agency. Come in already, showing himself to be a leader, bringing on other teammates. So awesome. But he messaged me earlier this week and was like, hey, you know, his family had something really. A really great opportunity come up, but it's going to take, you know, some. Some money, right? When you have kids and they do awesome things, that means the parents have to pay, right? And he said, hey, what can I do to get extra leads? What can I do to. Because he said, I need to make some more. And I know. You know, I know how it works here. And so he said, I'm willing to pick up extra shifts. I'm willing to, you know, do extra mentoring, like, whatever it is. Well, so sent him over some extra leads. And wouldn't you know, Javon, he's writing policies, like, the next day and getting all that covered for his family. Like, isn't that, like, where can you go and be like, hey, this awesome opportunity came up for my family. I can make that happen by grabbing some extra leads and. And writing.

Picking up the phone. Pick up the phone. That's awesome.

Like, I just. I love that. I love it for him. And then also, then our agency seeing him do that, you know, energizes all of them. So they're all booking more appointments and running more appointments and writing more applications. So it's pretty cool.

That's very awesome. Congrats. That's pretty awesome. All right, we are. We are here. Let's see. We. We have to see our.

Our last.

It's like a roller coaster. We go from positive to that ups down. I'm, like, so confused.

Like, welcome to fraud facts and life insurance.

I don't even want to hear the next fraud. Like, they better go to jail. That's all I. That's all I gotta say. They better go to jail. That's all I care about. I want to see the next ones go to jail, because that's crazy. We have. We can do too much positive and for you guys to be taking advantage of folks. So let's do that.

Here we go. You ready?

Let's do it. This is brought to you by agent.

Verified.Com Former Maryland insurance agent pleads guilty to more than $2 million fraud scheme Jonathan Williams, a former insurance agent and financial planner, pleaded guilty to wire fraud after defrauding clients and his employer, New York Life Insurance, out of more than $2 million. Williams, who was licensed to sell insurance in Maryland, admitted that between 2009 and 2015 he used deceptive tactics to misappropriate funds from clients policies. He forged signatures and falsified documents, leading clients to believe their investments were secure while diverting money into his own accounts.

All right, meet us here next week. We're going to finish this video up and we look forward to seeing you again on Fraud Facts and Life Insurance with Agent verified. See you next week. Peace.

See you next time. Aloha. Thanks for listening to Fraud, Facts and life insurance with AgentVerified. If this episode made you double check your policy or your agent, head over to agentverified.com to find someone you can trust. We'll be back next week with more fraud stories, facts and ways to protect what matters most. So stay smart, stay safe, and always verify your life insurance agent.