720 ILCS 5/17-10.5(a)(1) – Insurance Fraud
This law makes it illegal to lie or cheat to get money or benefits from an insurance company.
This law says it’s against the law to trick an insurance company or a self-insured business into paying money or giving benefits by making a false claim. It also explains the punishments and extra penalties for people or companies that commit insurance fraud.
(a) Insurance fraud.
- A person breaks this law if they knowingly lie or use trickery to get, try to get, or cause someone else to get money or property from an insurance company or a self-insured business. This includes making or helping to make a false insurance claim.
(d) Sentence:
- If the amount of money taken or tried to be taken is $300 or less, it’s a Class A misdemeanor.
- If it’s more than $300 but not more than $10,000, it’s a Class 3 felony.
- If it’s more than $10,000 but not more than $100,000, it’s a Class 2 felony.
- If it’s more than $100,000, it’s a Class 1 felony.
- Anyone found guilty must repay the insurance company or other victims for financial losses, including court costs and attorney’s fees.
- A person can also be punished for both committing insurance fraud and plotting or organizing insurance fraud.
(e) Civil damages for insurance fraud.
- If someone lies to get money from an insurance company, they must pay back either three times the money wrongfully received or twice the value of what they tried to get–whichever is higher–plus attorney’s fees.
- However, if an insurance company sues someone in bad faith (without good reason), that company must pay the person twice the amount claimed, plus attorney’s fees.
(f) Determination of property value. If the exact dollar amount isn’t listed, the “value” means the fair market replacement value or the reasonable cost to replace or reimburse services.
(g) Actions by State licensing agencies.
- State police and licensing agencies must work together to enforce this law.
- If someone with a professional license in Illinois is convicted of insurance fraud, the Illinois State Police must tell all licensing agencies.
- Those agencies must report within 6 months on what actions were taken, such as suspending or revoking the person’s license.
(h) Definitions. Words like “obtain,” “deception,” and “property” have the same meanings as they do in Article 15 of the Illinois Criminal Code.
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