Husband:         I wish we’d never bought this stupid SUV.  We just can’t afford this ridiculous payment any more.  Not if we want to eat, anyway.

Wife:               Well, can’t we just call and tell the bank that we don’t want the car anymore and let them take it back?

Husband:         Are you crazy?  Think what that will do to our credit report!

Wife:               Oh.  Well, how about selling it?

Husband:         And just who’s going to be buying a $35,000 car in this economy?  Donald Trump?  Ha!  Maybe someone will steal it.

Wife:               We should be so lucky.

Husband:         Yeah, we should be so lucky… hmmm.

Apparently, the poor state of the U.S. economy is driving good people to do bad things.  Growing numbers of individuals are committing fraud and reporting car theft where there is none.  Why?  Because they can’t afford their car payments, they’re worried about repossession or having a judgment placed against their credit report, or they simply desperately need the money.  All of them are good reasons, but certainly not good enough to commit insurance fraud.

Reports are coming in from all across the country about how individuals are claiming their car has been stolen and then filing a claim with their insurance company.  In fact, the owners have been charged with engineering the so-called theft and abandoning, torching or even sinking the car into a river.

Insurers and law enforcement are wise to this new “theft” scheme, so if this has been playing in your mind of late, it’s time to forget about it.  There are worse things than a bad credit rating - it’s called a criminal record.