Cheap Vehicle Insurance, Man Files False $20,000 Claim for Cat’s Death in Car Crash
A Washington State man was recently charged with a crime for trying to collect $20,000 worth of compensation from a car insurance company for his cat’s crash-related death that occurred back in 2009. The catch: the cat allegedly never existed, according to the state.
The Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner said in a press release that the insurance carrier that received the claim, PEMCO, realized something was amiss after doing a Google image search for cats and finding images plastered all over the Web that were identical to one the man had submitted as evidence of his cat’s existence. A report from The Associated Press said that one of the photos the man had submitted was actually the first image that showed up on a Google image search for “white cat” and is also on the “Cat” Wikipedia page.
The man said that his cat, Tom, had cost $1,000 and had “been like a son to him,” which he felt warranted the $20,000 claims payment. PEMCO saw the situation differently and had originally offered him $50. After finding out that the cat never existed, they canceled the check.