Twenty-six people have been charged in a $500,000 insurance fraud ring centered in Columbus, Georgia Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens announced Wednesday during a news conference.
Devonta Waddy, 24, of Lumpkin, Ga., was identified as the leader of the insurance fraud ring and remained on the loose as of Wednesday night. The group collectively faces 326 charges, including insurance fraud, racketeering, theft by deception, identify fraud and exploitation of the elderly.
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“This fraud ring staged phony accidents and filed fraudulent claims collecting thousands of dollars,” Hudgens said. “I said my office was going to be tough on insurance fraud, and hopefully these arrests will send a strong message that I am serious about cracking down on insurance fraud.”
The scheme was conducted from 2013 to 2016.
The following agencies assisted in the 16-month investigation: the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, the Webster County Sheriff’s Office, the Stewart County Sheriff’s Office, the Lumpkin Police Department, the Richland Police Department and the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
Insurance companies victimized by the scam included GEICO, State Farm, Nationwide, SafeAuto, Allstate, Progressive, USAA, Georgia Farm Bureau Mutual, Safeway, Everest National, Direct Auto and The General Insurance.
The Muscogee County District Attorney’s Office will be prosecuting the cases.
Hudgens said suspects would purchase liability insurance on a vehicle then intentionally strike another vehicle and accept responsibility for it, he added.
They allegedly reported the wrecks to their insurance company but not law enforcement. They filed more than $500,000 worth of false claims, but only received $155,925 in payouts from 12 insurance companies, Hudgens said.
“We’ve had the same vehicles involved in seven or eight claims showing different owners when they all belong to one individual,” said Sherry Mowell, the chief investigator of the Georgia Insurance Commissioner’s fraud unit.
Hudgens said companies aren’t the only ones affected by insurance scam.
In 2016, it costs every insurance policy holder about $400 to $700 to pay fraudulent claims processed through their company.
“The only way insurance companies get money is from us, individually,” he said. “Every time they have to payout a fraudulent claim, it costs everyone.”
