Will Foreclosures Spark An Arson Boom?

<b>As homeowners get more desperate, the insurance industry is bracing for an increase in arson.</B>

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Faced with foreclosure on her Russellville, Indiana home, Christina Snyder allegedly concocted the kind of plan that now has insurance executives on edge.

According to the county prosecutor, the 31-year-old Snyder allegedly offered to pay a neighbor $5,000 to help her burn down her house and make it look like a botched rape attempt - all in order to claim $80,000 in insurance money. Snyder wanted the neighbor to bind her hands in duct tape, write "whore" on her shirt, and then help her escape once the blaze was set, the prosecutor says. The neighbor demurred, instead reporting Snyder to police.

With the national foreclosure rate zooming and the real estate market in a two-year funk, the insurance industry fears more homeowners will see arson as a way out of their financial woes. A recent report by the industry-funded Coalition Against Insurance Fraud notes that with "untold thousands of homeowners struggling with ballooning subprime mortgage payments, fraud fighters are watching closely for a spike in arsons by desperate homeowners who can no longer afford their home payments."

History indicates such a spike is coming. "When the economy is down, we see an increase in fraud," says Dennis Schulkins, a claim consultant in State Farm's Special Investigative Unit.

It may already be happening. Allstate (ALL, Fortune 500) spokesman Mike Siemienas says his company has seen an increase nationally in arsons among homes in foreclosure. In California, the state¹s insurance division reports that the number of questionable residential fires in 2007 increased 76 percent over 2006.

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http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/09/news/economy/birger_arson.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008011003

things. :-(

six months.

When reports of arrests being made in those robberies, it usually winds up being someone around the age of 40-50. Also the ladies are getting in on the act.

Of course this in Michigan were we have been in a serious recession for at least 2 years.

country.

rob a bank in Erie, PA. He turned himself in, guilty conscience, but how desperate he had to have felt to even try. :cry:

Also, how should we prepare?

I've heard to many proclaim right up until a few months ago that everything was fine and the housing crisis/high energy cost would NOT effect the overall economy.

IMHO, this banking crisis is much more dire than we are being told. The Fed is printing money to inject in the system just to keep some banks afloat.

How to prepare? Concentrate on food, shelter, utilities and the bare necessities. No debt is king especially when it comes to your house.

This president has destroyed our economy. The country has been financially unhealthy since Reagan. Sure, the rich have been getting richer than ever, and the measurements used by free market economists have indicated the rich have been doing well. Meanwhile, the middle class has been going downhill, and now this.

debt could be a good risk, as long as you can make the payments on time.

:yoiks:

Proven ways to burn down your house as shown on my local news.

1. Buy an F150 and park it in the garage.
2. Light a candle near the drapes.
3. Smoke in Bed
4. Start a Kerosene heater 3" from the couch
5. Fry a frozen turkey on the back patio.

And hey, good luck with rebuilding the house or selling it once you use the insurance money to pay off the loan.



I totally appreciate the lengths people will go to when they are caught between a rock and a hard place but cummon -- burning down the house to avoid a forclosure? That doesn't even make sense.

read somewhere about vandals ripping out the electrical wires in empty homes for the copper value... untended swimming pools are becoming breeding ground for West Nile Virus mosquitoes in CA...

what a tangled web...