Chiropractor jailed 8 months for working with insurance agents to cheat Manulife

A chiropractor was taken to court on Tuesday (Jan 22) after he allegedly worked with two insurance agents to cheat Manulife Singapore of more than $14,000 by submitting bogus personal accident claims by 12 people who were covered by the insurer.

Shareholder of Chiropractic Focus Group Charles Loo Boon Ann, 29, is accused of committing the offences with Priscilla Tien Ling, 27, and Mike Chew Jun Yong, 36.

Loo was charged with 17 counts of cheating while Tien faces 12 charges for similar offences. Chew was handed nine cheating charges.

A search on the General Insurance Association Of Singapore’s website reveals that Chew is still a general and life insurance agent, currently linked to Liberty Insurance.

Information on Tien was not found on the portal.

The trio allegedly committed their offences between June 2017 and April last year and Manulife Singapore is said to have been duped into delivering the monies to the 12 insurance policy holders.

They allegedly received between $200 and $1,200 each.

Tien’s cases allegedly involved nine policy holders who received more than $8,000 in all.

Five policy holders linked to Chew are said to have received about $7,000 in total.

It was not mentioned in court on Tuesday if action will be taken against the 12 policy holders.

In a statement on Monday, the police said the trio allegedly cheated the insurance firm through false personal accident claims for treatments received at Loo’s clinics in Tampines and Tanjong Pagar.

A chiropractor entered into a scheme with two Manulife insurance agents, under which he would refer patients with pre-existing conditions to them.

After buying personal accident insurance policies from Priscilla Tien Ling and Mike Chew Jun Yong, these patients would then return to Charles Loo Boon Ann’s practice and claim the treatment costs, even though their policies did not cover pre-existing conditions.

cheat-manulife-fake-claims-jailed-8-months Loo got around this by claiming in his medical reports that his patients had sought treatment for injuries sustained after the inception date of their policies.

Tien and Chew submitted S$17,241 worth of fraudulent claims to their employer. 

Manulife ended up paying out about a quarter of that (S$4,450) in total.

The 30-year-old pleaded guilty to six charges of abetment by conspiracy to cheat, with another 11 of such charges taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that when Loo got to know the pair in early 2017, they discussed how to collaborate in their respective chiropractic and insurance businesses. They agreed to their plan over several meet-ups.

The trio cheated 13 of Loo’s patients from April 2017 to April last year. 

Loo would advise them to sign up for treatment packages, then get Tien and Chew to sell them insurance policies to claim the costs.