Manitoba Public Insurance has released its Top Five Frauds of 2011, highlighting unsuccessful attempts to defraud the public insurer over the past year.
The top fraud goes to a Winnipeg man who arranged to have an acquaintance set fire to his vehicle to be written off to collect insurance proceeds. The arsonist received the keys and poured gasoline from four-litre milk containers on the vehicle in an isolated area.
In the process, the arsonist caught himself on fire and received second-degree burns to 50 percent of his upper body. MPI investigators later interviewed the arsonist in hospital, who plead guilty to one count of arson and received a one-year jail sentence.
The vehicle owner, who subsequently withdrew his auto theft claim, received a 15-month conditional sentence after pleading guilty to one count of arson to his own property.
Read the remaining four frauds MPI was able to catch this year.
