People are all the time trying to defraud insurance companies one way or another. You usually hear the most about car accidents and injuries that occur from them. People hire lawyers and do their best to get as much money in a settlement as possible. While this can be a wise thing since insurance companies will only settle with you once, it is another to try and get money from them that you really do not deserve.

Another form of insurance fraud that happens more often than you think is when people set fires to their own homes. This might seem like an incredibly stupid idea especially since it is a criminal offense if you get caught, but it is been done anyway. It could be because they are behind on their mortgage payments, a dispute over the home because of a divorce, and of course, the ever popular mental illness. People can talk themselves into doing some really stupid and desperate things when they are under extreme emotional stress for many reasons.

Insurance companies always have the cause of fires investigated in order to prevent being a victim of fraud themselves. They will do this especially if the circumstances of the fire appear suspicious. It is really difficult for anyone to get away with arson these days because of all of the advanced methods available to be able to track the cause much more easily. Although people do get away with deliberately setting fire to homes sometimes, it is not very often and one should count on it.

Many times the physical evidence is what can give an arsonist away. When accelerants are used to start a blaze, they leave residue behind that can be pretty easily identified. Using an accelerant like gasoline is one of the most common methods someone will use to start a fire quickly. Generally they will soak as many things as they can to ensure the fire starts and continues to burn and this is usually their biggest mistake.

Explosives can also be used to start fires, but an arsonist such as a homeowner wishing to defraud the insurance company, would not normally use this method because of the danger involved for them selves and it would require some skill and research to learn how to carry it off. Gasoline or shorting out some wiring is much simpler.

Insurance companies often get a bad wrap because it sometimes seems that they are only out for themselves and try to pay out as little for claims as they possibly can. People getting away with defrauding the insurance company might have something to do with insurance companies always being on the defensive and making it more difficult to collect on a claim of almost any kind.