Eight arrests over a scheme to claim life policies from insurance companies

A Phoenix doctor and the owners of a funeral parlour have been arrested for insurance fraud, KwaZulu-Natal police said.

They were arrested with six other people on Tuesday and Wednesday in connection with fraudulent claims lodged with insurance companies, said Colonel Vincent Mdunge.

“The doctor had signed a form certifying a man had died due to natural causes when there was no such death,” he said.

A R500,000 insurance claim was made after the alleged death in 2010 and was paid out into the into the bank account of a 25-year-old woman from Phoenix.

Mdunge said investigations revealed that another woman from Phoenix had also insured the man’s life with the same insurance company using another person’s account details.

“When the alleged deceased was registered as dead with the home affairs, an [identity document] of a 20-year-old man from Phoenix was used,” said Mdunge.

“His name was also used as that of an informant who notified the department about the death,” he said.

The funeral parlour owners — a couple — apparently signed a form certifying the man dead when he was never in their mortuary.

“A statement made by the woman who owns the parlour differed from the one made by the doctor, because it reported that the man had died of a heart attack while the doctor said he died of cancer,” said Mdunge.

The arrests were made by members of the Durban commercial crime unit.

The eight were expected to appear in the Durban Commercial Crime Court on Thursday on charges of fraud.   Investigations were continuing and more arrests were expected.