Australian Woman Arrested For Faking Death To Claim Insurance Amount

An Australian woman, who owns a gym, faked her own death to claim a $500,000 insurance payout. She committed this insurance fraud after coming across an elaborate scheme in which she posed as her partner. 42-year-old Karen Salkilld claimed the insurance money in the name of her partner and faked her death due to a car accident. She forged all the documents and created a new bank account in the name of her partner. The money was transferred but soon her fraud was caught. She got arrested in March. 

As per the reports, Salkilld forged many documents to convince the officials about her death. She created a death certificate, a Coroner's Court of Western Australia delegate letter and an investigation record among others. 

Convinced by the documents, the insurance money was transferred to the new bank account Salkilld created in the name of her partner. A total of $477,520 was deposited in the account. 

How the fraud unravelled 

In the following days, Salkilld made many transactions from the insurance amount in the bank. However, her fraudulence gradually began to unravel when the bank account she created was frozen based on the bank's suspicion about the validity of the account. 

Desperate to access the money, Salkilld approached the Palmyra Police Station with various IDs approved by an officer. But her attempt to unfreeze the account failed. The documents she submitted to the bank were different from the ones she presented before the police and hence didn't pass the verification process. 

Charges against the Australian woman

Salkilld, who is a former East Fremantle Sharks assistant coach and a mother of two, vehemently denied answering any questions posed by the media. Later, she was charged with gaining benefits through fraud and intending to defraud with fake documents knowingly. She might face a seven-year imprisonment. She pleaded guilty to the two offences in her first appearance in front of the magistrate. Salkilld will be sentenced next month at Perth District Court.