Man filed $20,000 insurance claim for fake dead cat
Jul 5, 2012, 12:04 PM | Updated: 1:53 pm
Yevgeniy M. Samsonov, 29, told PEMCO Insurance his cat (left) was killed in an auto accident in 2009. After a Google search, a claims representative discovered a photo of the same cat (right) online, and realized it did not belong to Samsonov.
(left)
More than two years after he filed a claim for damage and
injuries suffered in a car accident, a Tacoma man demanded
that Seattle-based PEMCO Insurance pay him for a
fictitious cat he claimed was killed in the wreck.
Yevgeniy M. Samsonov, 29, has now been charged with first-
degree attempted theft and felony insurance fraud.
He sought to collect $20,000 from the company for the
death of his feline friend, which he told agents “was like
a son to him.”
Samsonov claimed the cat was killed during a March 27,
2009 traffic accident, during which his vehicle sustained
minor damage after being hit from behind. The other
driver’s insurer, PEMCO, paid Samsonov $3,452.
Years later, Samsonov contacted PEMCO to demand money for
a cat he said was also killed in the accident and sent the
company two photos of the animal.
After a search online, a PEMCO claims representative
quickly discovered the cat did not belong to Samsonov.
“If you go to Google images and type in, ‘white cat with
blue eyes,’ one of the two photos he submitted is the very
first result you get on Google,” said Rich Roesler with
the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner.
“Not exactly a very difficult case to crack.”
Samsonov is schedule to be arraigned July 11 in Pierce
County Superior Court.
