We live in a world where insurance scams are relatively common. People want to get money for nothing and the insurance companies will do whatever they can to protect the money they have.
This came to light in a rather unusual way in Taiwan recently. Chang, a college student was charged with committing insurance fraud in a way that has people absolutely shocked that he would take it so far.
He had filed an insurance claim for $1.3 million, stating that his legs had been amputated because he got frostbite. His claim was that he was riding his scooter around Taiwan in the cold weather when he got severe frostbite.
Apparently, it wasn’t really a ride on the scooter the cause of frostbite. He put his feet in a bucket of dry ice for 10 hours, and that caused severe frostbite and a loss of feeling below the knees.
After both of his legs were amputated, he went after the eight different insurance policies he had for a total of $1.3 million. It wasn’t long before the insurance company put things together, however, especially since he had just recently purchased the policies and the claim came in just a short while afterward.
In the end, Chang was charged with committing insurance fraud, claiming his legs were amputated because of accidental frostbite.
When insurance companies are suspicious about an insurance claim such as this, they may look into whether it was fraudulent. According to Chang, a fellow student told him gang members were after him so he was trying to get the money from the insurance claim.
Chang and his classmate were high school classmates as well. They had lost contact after going to the University, but they got close to each other again.
Chang is now disabled because of his attempt to defraud the insurance company.
According to the indictment, they both went on their scooters to purchase the dry ice and later, they went back to the resident, where Chang was restrained to a chair using cable ties.
He then put his feet into the bucket of dry ice for 10 hours, resulting in severe frostbite and narcosis below the knee.
He was then sent to the emergency department at a local hospital and was treated for a week. Both of his legs had to be amputated below the knees.
He did receive over $7000 through insurance claims but after the other insurance policies were found to have been purchased within a short amount of time before the claims, they refused to pay out any additional money.