I'm sure this post with be confusing to some of you but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I was hired back in October of 2005 as an independent contractor selling life insurance policies. One of my clients that I sold a policy to mentioned that she had a few family members that were interested in purchasing a life insurance policy as well and asked if I would pay her some type of referral fee. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT DURING THIS TIME I WAS WORKING A SALARY JOB AND WAS JUST DOING THIS ON THE SIDE. After 3 months, I noticed that some of the policies she had referred were starting to cancel. My husband contacted her via telephone and told her we needed to cut all ties. At that point, I stopped selling for this life insurance company.

January of 2007 rolls around and I received my 1099 from the same insurance company that I had worked for back in 06. The 1099 reflected that I received 45,000 in commissions. Keep in mind that during 06 I had to file bankruptcy. Imagine my surprise when I found that I had been paid that amount. My husband and I have had only one vehicle for the past 5 years and have been living paycheck to paycheck. It was almost laughable that I supposedly received all of that income.

After contacting the company, I discovered that the lady who provided referrals in the beginning had contact the insurance company one month after we stopped using her, pretending to be me, had all of the checks fed-ex to different locations, and cashed them at a local Wells Fargo bank where her sister in law worked. I have discovered that she was writing fraudulent contracts, signing my name to them, and getting paid on them in my name.

During the past two years, I haven't received any letters or calls from anyone. Last week I happened to call my landlord and he says, " Oh, by the way, the Texas Department of Insurance contacted me today looking for you regarding fraud charges". I was finally able to contact the investigator who called my landlord, and he indicated that they are in the beginning stages of the investigation and that he would like to visit with me for an interview.

I am in the process of retaining an attorney so that I can have legal representation but won't have the funds to pay the attorney until next week. I was scheduled to meet with the investigator tomorrow but just left a message on his voicemail indicating that I would like to have my attorney present and that I will have to reschedule the meeting.

I have bank records and financial statements to prove that I never had access to this kind of income. I can prove that I never endorsed the checks she cashed. I can also prove that I never sold the policies to any of the people she submitted contracts on. What she did, took a lot of time and planning.

I have been married for 15 years and have two young kids. Half of me is scared because an investigator is involved, and half of me isn't scared because I know I didn't do anything wrong. I am just paniced because I think having an attorney shows others I am guilty. I am not concerned with losing my insurance license( I am one year away from graduating from nursing school). I am just terrified I will get arrested before anyone has a chance to hear my side of the story. I don't have the financial means to hire a private investigator to research this for me and also don’t have 1000 to pay a private company to perform a lie detector test.

PLEASE HELP

Thanks in advance

Well yes you did do a little wrong, giving a "referal fee" or kick back is normally illegal, it has been in every state that I have ever sold insurance at. So you may well lose your insurance license after that and be liable for a fine also.

But as for as the person who committed fraud, you want to help with that, even if you get into some trouble of your own. And you need to see if you also should be filing for fraud charges against them with the police also.

Unless they can link this lady and those checks to you, and if you signed it and sold this, then?? What fraud would there be. But personally it sounds like a poor insurance company if they did not call and talk to you about this.

Hello Dot:

In our country, you have to be proven guilty. It looks like they're not going to be able to do that - not even close. Just relax, and listen to your attorney.

excon

To have earned $45,000 worth of commissions your "friend" would have had access to the insurance company's blank insurance application forms and the address to send the completed applications to. How did your "friend" accomplish this feat without your help? I don't understand why the insurance company would send your commission checks fedex to different addresses under your name. I am surprised that the insurance company failed to recognize you over the phone and she "pretended" to be you. Usually an independent life insurance agent deals with one case manager at a life insurance company in an ongoing business relationship. How did they get around this scenerio? Was this the type of life insurance that required a medical exam for the policy to be issued? This whole scenerio sounds like a lot is missing here. Why would your husband call her and not you to supposedly sever all contact?

I will agree twinkiedooter, I am licensed with about 10 companies, and there is no way someone could take over my accounts without the manager of each knowing.

I don't think you all are understanding exactly what went on. She called the insurance company pretending to be me and indicated that she moved. She ordered the blank contracts online, had them delivered to her house, and signed my name on them. This company is based out of a different state, so it's not like she has to pick them up at a home office.

Regarding the fed ex of checks... When she called the company, she indicated that she wasn't going to be home to get the check and asked that they be sent to a different location.

This was not the type of life insurance that requires an exam. It was similar to a pre-arrangement policy.

When my husband called her, I was standing right next to him. When the policies started to cancel, we were both livid. He felt that if he called her, she wouldn't be tempted to try and contacted me again.

This company had about 15 different people working on incoming contracts each day. There was no telling who you would get on the line which is why they never recognize her voice not being mine.

The part about her ordering supplies online is kind of fishy. Usually an agent will have to have some kind of sign in code in order to access these type of sites. How did she get your sign on code? How did the company know it was her pretending to be you when you called them? Did she have your SSN and other identifying info? Still don't understand that part. How did they explain that to you? Also, how many policies total were written by her?

Also, when an agent changes their address they must notify the state division of Insurance of their new address. How did she do this, if she did this? She would have needed your SSN in order to this as well as your d.o.b.

It wasn't until after I contacted the insurance company and asked for copies of checks and contracts that I put the pieces together and figured out what was going on.

There are two ways of ordering supplies(blank conrtracts) from this company. Online or via fax. All you need to have is the agents writing number which she got from the contract that I sold her. The official copy that the insurance company sent her had my writing number on it.

I found your point interesting regarding the fact that the insurer would have to contact the state division of Insurance if they were notified of the address changed. When I called them, it was HER address they had on file. The State Department of Insurance just had my address on file.

One last point I forgot to mention... In order for a sales rep to receive that kind of commission, you would have to have a lot of money submitted with the contract for the down payment. In some cases, she submitted contracts with money orders totaling $800.00. I'm just at a loss about what I should do next.

I will have to get the money for an attorney from my parents but it will be a few weeks before I will have access to it. The attorney I will be retaining has advised me not to speak with the investigator until she is with me.

Hello again, Dot:

I'm not telling you to DO nothing because I don't know what to do. I'm telling you to DO nothing because I KNOW that DOING anything WITHOUT your attorney can HURT your defense. So, I say again, DO NOTHING except what your attorney advises. Don't talk to anybody. Don't say anything. NOTHING!!

excon

If you are a independent agents you should have enough income to off set the 1099,but you would be a fool to pay a lawyer hard earn money for a natural born *** whipping because by the time you finish with lawyer fee,department of insurance fines and even lose your license to sale insurance again.It probably better to walk away from the situation and take it as a lesson learn.Thats what I would do that way it wouldn't like you lie when you filed bankruptcy.Get a good Cpa

All good answers to a difficult and hard to understand situation. Almost any Agent who has spent time in our business has been ripped off, cheated, lied to or mislead in some form or another. My question is why don't we, insurance Agents, form a group (not a union) more like a support group in order to help each other especially inexperienced Agents with situations like these? I hear these stories all the time after many years in our business, why can't we help each other when help is truly needed and deserved. We are all in this together, true? We compete but we don't hate each other, true? Nothing that would effect the healthy competition but we are for the most part alone in this business. You think you have support from whoever, see how fast that "whoever" turns tail and runs if they believe you did something wrong that may be harmful to them when you may not have done anything wrong. Just to be clear im talking about an Agent group that will work with the insurance companies and regulatory agencies certainly not against them!