In two weeks, I’ll head to Riverside, California to the Romance Retreat where I will meet fans of romantic suspense. I’m nor sure what to expect, but I’ll bring a full report back and post it here. And again, thank you to all my readers who bought a copy of Summer of Suspense~ it was amazing to be #28 on the USA Today Best Seller list!
Now onto last week’s Mystery Question
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Four crazy crimes, three that are true and one I made up. Can you guess the made-up one?
- A teenager was doing a little underage drinking when a police officer took her aside and asked to see her ID. She challenged him to a game of “rock, paper, scissors” to win her freedom. When she ended up with rock to the officer’s scissors, the crowd that had gathered around them cheered and he let her go. He didn’t get off so easily–he and the other two officers with him were relieved of duty.
- A man’s expensive gun collection was stolen along with a German shepherd dog he purchased to guard it.
- A bank robber and his companions subdued a bank manager and employees in the UK and walked out with over sixty million pounds. The robbers would have gotten away with it if the leader had not returned to retrieve his Ferrari.
- What happens when you put a redneck, a gun, and an armadillo together? The redneck’s mother-in-law gets shot when the redneck shoots the armadillo, the bullet ricochets off the animal and into the m-i-l’s mobile home and hits the m-i-l in the back. Fortunately, she survived.
And the answer is…#2. Congrats on all who guess correctly!
Now on to this week’s Mystery Question. Insurance fraud drains more than $50 BILLION from insurers each year adding anywhere from $400 to $700 a year in increased premiums. Here are four frauds. Three actually happened. I made up one. Can you guess which one?
- Two men used a pole saw (a saw attached to a pole that is used to saw off tree limbs) to cut off a third man’s hand in order to collect over $600,000.
- Four women invented a man, faked his death and staged a funeral so they could collect over a million dollars. When the insurance companies involved began their investigation, they dug the body up and put a mannequin and cow parts in the casket and then sent the casket to the crematory. They then filed paperwork stating the man had been cremated and his ashes scattered over the Pacific Ocean.
- An elderly woman ran out of funds for her gambling addiction and staged forty-nine slip-and-fall scams, collecting over $500,000 before she was outed.
- When a man’s ceiling cracked he knew his homeowner’s insurance wouldn’t pay for the repair, so he waited for a rainstorm, climbed up in his attic and poured out a gallon of water above the ceiling. Unfortunately, the adjuster climbed up on the roof that the insurance company had replaced just a year earlier and couldn’t find any place where the roof could have leaked.
Okay, Super Sleuths, which one did I make up? Leave your answers in the comments and I’ll enter you in a drawing for a book from my library.
The winner of Friday’s drawing for Fire Storm is Jeanna!
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Comments 38
People will do some crazy things for money, like cut off a hand, but number 4 sounds extra suspicious, so I’m going with that one.
Author
I can’t imagine cutting off a hand for money, Priscilla. We’ll see next week if it’s #4.
I think number 2.
Author
We’ll see, Linda. Thanks for stopping by!
Number 2
Author
We’ll see, Lydia. Thanks for stopping by.
I think number 2. Number 1 is gross, but number 2 states the women invented a man, and later states they dug the body up and put a mannequin and cow parts in the casket. If they invented the man, where did the body come from? Unless by invented you mean created out of physical materials?
Author
Monique, I think it was a mannequin and then they stuffed the mannequin with cow parts. Ewww. Thanks for stopping by!
I say 2.
Have fun at your conference
Author
I had a great time at the conference, Jessica. I’m at the hospital with a friend right now…going home tomorrow! We’ll see next week if it’s #2.
I’m glad you had a great time and hope your friend is doing well .
Author
He’s better. We’re going home today if the labs are all good. 🙂
I think it’s #2. Doesn’t seem probable!
Author
We’ll see Mary. As for probable, remember we’re dealing with dumb crooks. lol
I say #2. Maybe the inside man was from the mortuary ,though!
Author
Paula, #2 seems to be a popular choice. 🙂 We’ll see next week if that’s the right answer.
#2
Wow Pat, you found some weird ones this time. Some are downright macabre. I’m going with #4. Someone could have thought that up, and thought it would work, but it seemed the most reasonable of the bunch, and sometimes the most unreasonable stories are the true ones.
Author
I know, Tim. Like I’ve said before, it is hard for me to come up with a false one given the really strange true ones. lol
I believe it’s #2.
Author
Maureen, #2 is definitely the popular guess this week. Thanks for stopping by.
#2
Author
I’ll put you in the #2 column, Joni. Thanks for dropping by!
I’m still shaking my head that #3 last week was actually one of the true ones. For this week, I doubt you would choose #2 two weeks running, but it does sound true to me. If it’s not that, it’s #4. Bless your week!
#1 – I hope — I can’t imagine losing a hand…
Some people really go to extremes for easy money. Hoping you made up #1. Can’t imagine a man allowing that, not even for money – unless he was drunk!
I’m going with #4.
I am going to be different and say #3 this week.
So excited I won Fire Storm, thank you!
I’m going with number one this week.
Author
Congrats, Jeanna! I emailed you for your address. And we’ll see next week if it’s #1.
I am choosing #1. I couldn’t decide if they cut off his hand or his head, since it says they “cut off a third man’s had.” I don’t see any way they could have benefitted from cutting off someone’s body part unless the third man was in on it. A person would have to be totally insane to agree to allow that, especially with any kind of saw. As for the gambler, it sounds like her “slip-and-fall” gambles were more lucrative than her other gambling habit.
Author
Thanks, Edward…I corrected the question to read “hand”. 🙂 And I agree about the gambler. lol
Based on other comments, I think most simply read “hand” even though it could have been either. I assumed “hand,” but with crazy insurance frauds, you can never be certain.
So last week I was leaning more towards #2 and I’m so glad I could have been right. But I still can’t believe that ALL the officers were discharged and not the one who engaged in the rock, paper, scissors game. Wow!
For this week, I’m going to go with #4 with the logic that I don’t believe an insurance adjuster would go up on the roof to investigate the claim…I think the insurance company would send a roofer to do that. We’ll see if my logic fails me this week…lol!
All these are crazy! But people do crazy things for insurance claims these days 😉 Have fun in California for the Romance Retreat. I can’t wait to hear your report!
Ooops…I meant to say in my first comment, “I can’t believe that ALL the officers were discharged and not JUST the one who participated in the game. ” Sorry!
Author
Trixi, all the officers were reprimanded. And we’ll see how your logic works next week. 🙂
#1
Author
We’ll see, Caryl. We’ll see.