Ep 12: $10K Scam, Final Expense Coverage & The No GoFundMe Campaign

Foreign. 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, you guys, to Fraud, Facts and Life Insurance with Agent Verify. We are Betsy and Javon, and we are here to tell you about the fraud in the industry so you can protect yourself and then also some facts and help you make sure that you're protected. So let's dive back in, see what happened with this former insurance agent who found himself in some trouble. So let me go ahead and share it and let's dig right in. All right, here we go. Yep, here it is. Are we ready for it?

Oh, boy.

Boom. Walpole county insurance agent who admitted to faking insurance policy documents won't spend any more time in jail. A judge sentenced 39 year old Nicholas Minow of Grimes to a six year suspended prison sentence. He must also pay restitution. Prosecutors say Minow scheme netted him more than $10,000.

That's crazy. That is so crazy. Like, what is the point? What? $10,000 and six years. Like he should be like, they need to have big jail times. Like that is pointless. Like we know people that. I just saw a post with one hour colleagues that had a $10,000 day. What is the point of.

And literally make that. You can literally make that in a day, in a week. And then he's trying to fraud people doing this in over a six year period. I mean, all that tells me is that you're really not good at your job at all. And you're not even good at fraud. Honestly, you're not even that good at fraud. The judge isn't even going to give you jail time because like, not even good at fraud. I mean, you shouldn't be doing it anyways, but like, goodness gracious, $10,000 over a six year period.

I think the six years was how long if he gets in trouble, like six year probation. So if he gets in trouble within those six years, you know, but he just had to pay back ten grand and it was already time serv. So boo hoo. No prison time.

Come on.

Yeah, we need some prison time.

Come on. Come on, Nicholas. Be better. Be better. Man. But again, and the rest of us. Rest of us agents out there, we all know you can make 10 grand. Literally, you can make 10 grand in a day.

Yep.

I mean, just do.

And it's almost embarrassing. And have happy people. Like, everyone's happy, you know, Win, win.

Everyone's happy. Win, win, win. So, and this is. This is also where if you're in. If you're working with a life insurance.

Agent, check their reviews.

Yeah, I think Chet will obviously always check their reviews. But, you know, you also want to be working with people that are helping a lot of other people. And that's one of the reasons that we have the reviews on Agent verified is so that you can see who your agent has been working with, has been helping. Because agents that are working hard and are busy helping other families, they don't. They don't really have time to be doing anything fraudulent or negligent, because if they're helping a lot of families, they're doing really well for themselves. And so they're not worried about defrauding you, because they just know, hey, if I help you, I'm helping my family. It's a. It's a win, win, win for everybody. When you do the right thing in life insurance, literally everybody wins. So isn't that pretty great? Isn't that great that. That's. That's the business that we're in, Javon. Like, you know, it's like, hey, when I help a family, I'm helping my family. I'm helping my community. It's. And all we're doing is protecting families against literally the worst time of their life. So that when they're in this time of, oh, my gosh, someone has passed away or someone's gotten really sick, gotten hurt, I get to show up with a big check. Yeah, I mean, you know, like, what kind of. What kind of a job allows us to do that? And then through helping family in this difficult time, that's how I get to put food on the table for my family.

Right.

It doesn't get any better than that.

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Well, speaking of that, what have you. What. How have you guys been Protecting families in the Spencer Financial Group.

Yeah, well, we've been helping like we had some really, really good weeks on top of weeks and really been seeing a big influx of whole life final expense coverage, which has really been awesome. We've been on the.

Hey, but sorry not to interrupt, but tell the people what is, what is final? I know we use that word all the time. So what is final expense? What does that mean for families?

So it's like, it's specific life insurance that's designed just for the after death time period. So that's final expenses can be final debts to pay hospital bills or you know, final debts to pay funeral costs. Right. That's really the most popular. Funeral costs, cremation costs. You know, honestly, there's a bill after we're no longer here. The question is, do you pay for it or do you leave it for your family to pay for? Right. Final expenses. Yeah, final expenses can be a final gift. Right? You have so many people.

Say that. Say that again. Say that again.

I mean, we teach our clients like you might not. I mean, be honest. It's rough, right? A lot of families are rough. They don't. They could not see a $10,000 gift to their church or gift to their grandchildren, but putting it into a life insurance policy as the final goodbye, you know, is, you know, paying 20, 30, 40, $50 a month. They can afford that. They can, they can leave the church that gift. They can leave their grandchildren that gift. We've been helping so many people, you know, settle that, get better coverage and then obviously with the living benefits. So we've been talking about a no go fund me campaign recently.

Oh, I love that. Well, cause I was going to say, like, hey, if you don't have, if you don't have life insurance to cover your burial or your funeral, I mean, a lot. Most families don't just have 10k sitting in the bank. I mean, that's just the reality. Reality, you know, and hey, we all wish we did, but a lot of people don't. Right. And so how, how does that get paid for if you can't, if you don't have life insurance?

The most pop. The most popular has been GoFundMes. And then, you know, a lot of people, like, do you want to be remembered as a gofundme? Like, do you want your, like it just. Do you want your last memory, your whole paragraph from a loved one when you were on this earth to be from a GoFundMe? That's. No, you know, you're pitching how good of a life you had to strangers for five, $10,000. And in some cases, people are sitting right. Your family is not being able to close this chapter because now they just have an emotional strain and now they just picked up a financial strain. And I, I just, you know, so we started our no GoFundMe campaign, like no more GoFundMe. And you know, been saving so many people. Just giving them that sigh of relief, you know, give them that relief. So the team has been on fire with that and not going to slow down.

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Yeah, I mean, I always tell, tell people my, my first death claim was of my family member and that was the first one that I actually handed my aunt a check. And let me just tell you, it was, it was life changing. It brings your purpose here to this industry because instead of, you know, begging for help, we were actually trying to put a lot of cash rewards to get information about what happened to them. So it changed the, you know, and then watching that transform to, you know, her moving, starting a new life, you know, purchasing a home and all of this to just, you know, almost like a restart based off of as crazy Betsy, a $22 policy. $22 policy return up came back as a six figure cash payout. Oh, man.

So, I mean, she's dealing with the death of her son. Oh my gosh. I mean, I know, I know that was such a hard time. But then you get to show up with a check instead of trying to rally people. Instead of flowers. I bet you brought flowers too, don't you? But man, showing up with the check, that's. I mean, that's phenomenal. That's what it's all about. So like, hey, if you're listening and you're like, hey, I don't think I have something in place, I would be leaving my family a bill. I wouldn't be leaving them a check.

Like, I mean, I tell the men, even the men, Betsy Like, I get harsh with them. Like. Like, I just think, like, do, you know, can you imagine leaving your wife with a bit like, I think the character.

Like, imagine getting deep there, Javon.

I would feel like, wow, so, you know, like, do you want your last memory to be one of disgust or celebration? You know, Because I promise you, they. It's a little bit different animal of, you know, how good of a. How good of a man, how good of a woman, how good of a person were you knowing, like, this was never going to come. So, you know, a lot of folks been wanting to protect that and then build from there.

I think that's awesome. And, you know, some of people don't think about that or it's not. It's not really something you ever want to think about. And so that's. I think it's great for us as agents to have the. They have the willingness to be able to say to someone, hey, I want to help you lead your family. A gift and not a bill, you know, and sure, it can be uncomfortable sometimes, but, you know, when I'm helping my agents as they're getting started, you know, and they might feel uncomfortable talking about these kind of situations, one of the things I always just share with them is like, hey, you're. You're creating a positive experience for someone in the midst of their darkest hour, you know, and so our willingness to be able to ask those hard questions and to be able to walk families through those scenarios, like, that's what helps us win as agents, because we're willing to ask those questions that maybe no one else is willing to ask. And so that's what we've been talking about in our agency actually this past week, is asking those questions, digging in, you know, and doing the training to like, hey, let's do that with sensitivity. Let's do that with kindness and care. But let's care enough to ask those questions. Let's care enough to be the people that will. That will. Will stand in the gap for someone that's maybe thought, never thought of that before.

Hey, if you're tired of clocking in, getting underpaid, or just want more control of your time and income, we're hiring at Spencer Financial Group. We train everyday people to earn real money. Helping families with life insurance from home, on your schedule and with leads provided. No cold calling, no chasing family and friends, just real support and a clear path to Success. Go to www.thespencerfinancialgroup.com and send. See what we're about. Let's build Something real. So, hey, so you guys. Have you. Have you guys been on fire? Have you. Tell us.

Oh, man, I'll tell you what. We have been. It has been on fire. And, Javon, you know, this is. It's been a good problem, but the problem is I can't help all my agents that need help because they're all. They're all writing business. They're all asking questions, and, man, like, I want to be able to help them all, but, you know, I'm busy writing business. They're writing business. And then other people are coming in like, hey, how can I help this family? And so I'm actually excited. You know, one of the. We're always, you know, reading books, trying to make sure that I'm a better leader. I'm a better, you know, just agency leader for. For my team. And so one of the books that I read in the past but came back around this. This past month was who, not how. And so my, you know, my thought process was, you know, how can I make this better? How can I put a system in place? And, you know, all this stuff. How can I. How. How. How can I get a system of efficiency for agents? And then I just. I kind of. So I started reading the book again, and I paused because we were on. We were on. On vacation, getting to help. Getting to see some family back in Tennessee. And. And so I. It. It forced me to pause. I'll say that as well. And I started noticing who the leaders were in my agency that were really stepping up when, hey, maybe I was, you know, out hanging out with my mom or my nieces for. For a couple hours. Who was stepping up into that gap when I wasn't there to answer that question. And it's just awesome to see some leaders that are being risen up in the agency and that just were starting to help the other agents without me saying, hey, I need you to do this, or, hey, can you please do this. They were just like, that was just. That's just our culture. We help each other. But then there were a couple that were just doing that over and above, you know, just, hey, texting back and forth or being available in our ZOOM work group. And so got to talk with them, and. And so actually brought them on as, like, what we're calling a base shop mentor. So just officially there to really help support agents so that if I'm not there, they know exactly who to go to. So, yeah, it just became really clear, hey, it's not about how can I do more, it's who Can I put in place that we can partner together to help the whole agency that can continue to grow? Because if it's all reliant on me, then, man, we're gonna. We're gonna reach that ceiling real quick. And if it's all about me, then that's all about my ego and my pride. And I don't. I don't want to not help more families because I'm in the way. Like, man, I couldn't sleep at night if I did that. And so, you know, you had to put it in. Sometimes I have to put it in that perspective. And. And so. But, you know, I'm just really grateful for these leaders that have come on in my agency. They're helping so many families, and. But they're like, hey, I want to help these new agents. I want to help other people serve more families. So, man, that's what. That's what's going on in the bar agencies that we're. We're fired up, we're excited, and I feel like we're about to grow even more because I'm stepping out of the way and letting more leaders rise up. So it's a little humbling, I'm not gonna lie. But I think it's. I think it's great. I think it's. It's exciting to watch. For sure.

For sure. All right, who's. Who. Who. We're leaving on the cliffhanger this week.

Oh, that's right. Back to the fraud. Back to the negativity. But now we. We've got to. Right. Because we want to make sure that you guys know what's out there. We want you to not have to be in one of these stories. So here we go. Oh, it looks like this one. I'm not going to give it away, but it's going to be a little different ending than what we just heard. Are you ready? The Greater Lavernia Chamber of Commerce pled guilty today to stealing more than a half a million dollars from her clients and the Chamber.

Jesus. All right, wow.

We're gonna pause it there.

Wow.

That is definitely a little bit different than what we just heard at the beginning of this episode.

Wow.

So if you want to hear what happened with this agent, be sure to come back to our next episode tune week. We're going to hear what this agent did. I bet we're going to be able to learn a lot.

We can't even say allegedly because she pled it guilty. So we got to hear in prison. Yeah.

All right, so come back next week. We'll see you then. It's Betsy and Spencer signing off for Fraud, Facts and Life insurance with Agent Verify.

Peace.

Thanks for listening to Fraud, Facts and life insurance with Agent Verified. 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 inside insurance Agent.