Plant City financial adviser and insurance agent Paula Kampf Albertson was arrested for stealing $200,000 in insurance claims from her clients, according to a news release. The announcement came from Operation S.A.F.E Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater after an investigation by the Florida Department of Financial Services’ Division of Insurance Fraud revealed Albertson exploited her elderly clients by making Albertson’s own family the beneficiaries of her clients’ insurance benefits.
“Fraud of any kind is intolerable, but it is especially repugnant when it involves taking advantage of the trust of Florida seniors,” Atwater said. “I applaud our investigators efforts to bring this woman to justice.”
In May 2011, Albertson changed the home address on a dying client’s annuity policy to her own home address. Shortly after, she ordered a change of beneficiary form that named her husband and stepson, both licensed insurance agents with the Albertson Financial Group, as beneficiary and contingent beneficiary. Within weeks, the client died. After filing a death-benefits claim, Albertson’s husband fraudulently collected more than $150,000. To circumnavigate a Florida law prohibiting agents from being named beneficiaries on a client’s policy, Albertson lied, saying her husband and step-son were the client’s cousin and nephew.
One year later, another of Albertson’s clients was contacted by her insurance company regarding a nearly $50,000 cash surrender on her annuity account. In a sworn statement, the client indicated she had not requested the payout and that the signature on the resulting check was not her own. An investigation revealed that Albertson again changed her client’s home address to collect and fraudulently endorsed the check over to her company for personal gain. Since then, at least three additional victims have been identified, but the loss dates are beyond the statute of limitations.
To expedite professional licensure revocation processes, Albertson has agreed to a guilty plea of insurance fraud entailing a minimum 21-month prison sentence, immediate license termination and a prohibition on the acceptance of profits from any practice of insurance.
Florida seniors seeking information and help to protect themselves from fraud can visit myfloridacfo.com/Safe. Operation S.A.F.E is a multi-division outreach initiative led by Atwater and the Florida Department of Financial Services designed to Stop Adult Financial Exploitation by protecting Florida’s seniors from financial fraud and scams through education. Comprehensive scam and fraud prevention workshops are being held across the state to inform seniors on the many tactics scam artists use to steal their hard-earned money.