Tying the knot — or not?
A bride's wedding insurance fraud scheme against The Knot unfolded when she attempted to deceive the website not once, but twice.
The wedding blues took on new meaning when a California woman, Vermyttya Miller, was sentenced to five years in jail after pleading no contest to a felony insurance fraud charge for a scheme she devised to swindle The Knot — twice, says the California Department of Insurance.
In October 2016, Miller booked a wedding reception at the Galleria Ballroom in Glendale, Calif., through The Knot, a popular wedding planning website. The booking came with a $10,000 event cancellation/postponement insurance policy.
Sometime after the booking, she claimed she suffered severe injuries after tripping on her wedding dress, and, as a result, had to cancel the wedding reception. Miller then filed an insurance claim under the booking’s insurance policy, even providing medical records that documented her injuries.
The insurer mailed Miller a $10,000 check on Oct. 31, 2016, and just a couple weeks later, she emailed The Knot’s insurer to report the check was stolen. To support her story, she offered a copy of a police report she allegedly filed with the Vallejo Police Department and explained the investigative details that reportedly came from the police department.
The website’s insurer, Tokio Marine, referred the claim for an investigation by the Department of Insurance. The investigation found evidence that Miller faked the medical reports of her injury used in the first claim and forged the police report she used when alleging the check was stolen.
“Miller’s trail of fraudulent claims led straight to a five-year jail sentence after department detectives unraveled her scheme,” said Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara in a release. “Insurance fraud is a felony with serious penalties and consequences. We are committed to uncovering fraud and working with prosecutors to bring criminals to justice.”
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case, and Miller pleaded no contest to one count of felony insurance fraud. She was sentenced to five years in county jail and ordered to pay restitution for the $10,000 insurance check and an additional $12,500 for investigative costs.
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