classified as either hard fraud or soft fraud. Hard fraud occurs when someone deliberately plans or invents a loss, such as a collision, auto theft, or fire that is covered by their insurance policy in order to claim payment for damages. Criminal rings are sometimes involved in hard fraud schemes that can steal millions of dollars. Soft fraud, which is far more common than hard fraud, is sometimes also referred to as opportunistic fraud. This type of fraud consists of policyholders exaggerating otherwise legitimate claims. For example, when involved in an automotive collision an insured person might claim more damage than actually occurred. Soft fraud can also occur when, while obtaining a new health insurance policy, an individual misreports previous or existing conditions to obtain a lower premium on the insurance policy. Types of insurance fraud Life insurance The majority of life insurance fraud occurs at the application stage, involving applicants misrepresenting their health, their income, and other personal information in order to get a cheaper premium. As more and more insurance amendments can be performed online or over the telephone, identity theft has become an enabling crime that can lead to the amendment of life insurance terms to benefit a fraudster; for example, by adding a second stolen identity as a new beneficiary. Life insurance fraud may involve faking death to claim life insurance. Fraudsters may sometimes turn up a few years after disappearing, claiming a loss of memory. An example of life insurance fraud occurred in the case of John Darwin, a former teacher and prison officer who turned up alive in December 2007, five years after he was thought to have died in a canoeing accident, claiming to have no memory of the period after his disappearance. Similarly, former British Government minister John Stonehouse went missing in 1974 from a beach in Miami but was discovered living under an assumed name in Australia. He was subsequently extradited to Britain and imprisoned for seven years on charges of fraud, theft, and forgery. Health care insurance Health insurance fraud is described as an intentional act of deceiving, concealing, or misrepresenting information that results in health care benefits being paid to an individual or group. Fraud can be committed either by an insured person or by a provider. Member fraud consists of claims on behalf of ineligible members and/or dependents, alterations on enrollment forms, concealing pre-existing conditions, failure to report