Two insurance agents, Travis Wingrove, 29, and Jeffrey Ingram, 53, have been charged with insurance fraud and theft for stealing $114,000 from clients and selling fake policies in Western Pennsylvania.
According to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, Wingrove stole $26,247 from eight clients, including their life insurance proceeds, auto insurance premiums, and even a loan. Ingram, on the other hand, submitted 252 phony Medicare supplement policy applications and pocketed $88,636 in fraudulent commissions.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced the felony charges, stating that insurance fraud hurts consumers across the Commonwealth and causes premiums to rise for law-abiding policyholders. Shapiro emphasized that his office will prosecute anyone who breaks the law by stealing from clients or submitting phony insurance policies for their own profit.
In Wingrove’s case, the Office of Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud unit began an investigation following a referral from the Pennsylvania Insurance Department. Investigators discovered that Wingrove stole $26,247.73 from clients between April 2013 and April 2015 while employed at Rosemary Skaggs’ State Farm Insurance Agency in Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County.
Wingrove used various scams, including stealing from clients’ life insurance policies, taking their auto insurance premiums and never depositing them, and scamming a client to apply for a $2,775 loan on his life insurance policy that Wingrove stole and cashed for himself. Several of the clients scammed by Wingrove were over 70 years old, and insurance fraud experts note that older citizens are often targeted for financial scams and insurance fraud.
In the second case, Ingram submitted fake Medicare supplement policy applications between March and October 2016, earning $88,636 in advance commissions that he never should have received. Ingram either created personal information to fill in on the policy forms or obtained it from sources like the phone book. The scam was uncovered after Medico had several policies returned undeliverable by mail, with at least one notice indicating the policy applicant had died.
Both Wingrove and Ingram were arraigned on the insurance fraud charges, with preliminary hearings set for September 6. Senior Deputy Attorney General Jerome Orie will prosecute Ingram, while Senior Deputy Attorney General Dennis Kistler will prosecute Wingrove. The Attorney General’s office thanked the Insurance Department for the referral and noted that collaboration between the executive branch of state government and his office was ongoing and beneficial for Pennsylvanians.
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Key Facts
- State: Pennsylvania
- Agency: Pennsylvania AG
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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