Florida's Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater announced the arrests of six in Central Florida tied to an elaborate Workers' Compensation insurance fraud scheme last week.

According to a release from the office of the CFO, an investigation led by the Department of Financial Services' Division of Insurance Fraud uncovered a large-scale premium fraud scheme in which the six individuals created multiple shell corporations in order to systematically conceal payroll amounts for the purpose of obtaining low-cost Workers' Comp policies. The investigators say that beginning in September 2012, the following were opened and operated as shell companies:

• Alfa Construction
• Burgos Construction
• Ginel Construction
• Rejevaz Services Inc.
• PHH Construction.

Shell companies are owned by individuals—or "straw owners"—who, for a fee, agree to serve as the legal owner of a business because they have a clean criminal record. The businesses are instead run by organizers who direct the day-to-day activities and operations of the illegal activities.

According to Atwater's office, members of this particular fraud network secured low-cost Workers' Comp policies by grossly deflating accurate payroll amounts. Those amounts were concealed by using check cashing stores, which circumvented proper bookkeeping measures.