BC insurance broker fined $10K for submitting 77 fraudulent claims

A West Kootenay insurance broker is on the hook $12,000 after she submitted 77 fraudulent insurance claims on her health benefits.

According to a March 17 Insurance Council of BC decision, insurance salesperson Cyndal Irene Taylor was paid $9,073 for submitting fraudulent insurance claims and was fired by her Castlegar employer after it found out.

Taylor had worked at Sun Life Financial for almost a decade but was fired in December 2023 for “conducting fraud.” She then moved provinces and registered with the Alberta Insurance Council months after being caught.

“(The regulator) found the (Taylor) failed to take accountability for her conduct by suggesting that everything had been a mistake and not admitting to the misconduct and potentially attempting to evade discipline by registering in another province rather than porting her licence,” the Insurance Council of BC said in the decision.

The decision said Taylor was licenced as a life, accident and sickness insurance agent from 2015 until 2024.

During the regulator’s investigation, Taylor said she had been experiencing severe physical and mental health issues during the time when she submitted the 77 fraudulent claims.

“(Taylor) further stated that she had receipts for some of the benefit claims that were determined to be fraudulent. However, she never provided copies of those receipts to either the complainant or to (regulator’s) investigator,” the decision read.

The decision said she intended to repay the funds and had begun doing so, a move the Insurance Council found mitigating.

However, the BC Insurance Council highlighted the large number of fraudulent insurance claims Taylor made “especially” as she was a licenced insurance salesperson at the time.

“(The regulator) found that (Taylor) was not forthright with (its) investigator when she advised that she could prove the claims were legitimate by providing receipts but never did provide receipts,” the decision read.

Ultimately, the Insurance Council of BC fined Taylor $10,000 and barred her from being licenced for five years, along with ordering her to pay costs of $2,312.