Some cheaters view fraud as a "low-risk, high-reward gambit" according to the Coalition. Most insurers pursue fraudulent claims, but some still pay suspicious claims because it can be easier than going to court.

Across the country, states are enacting tougher fraud laws, so scammers should beware.

Read on to meet some of the fraudsters who thought they were smart enough to beat the system, but didn't:

1. Fraudulent fire kills two

Mark Leonard was drowning in mortgage, credit card and gambling debt when he decided to burn down his home for the $300,000 insurance payment. He lived in the Richmond Hills neighborhood of Indianapolis with his girlfriend, Monseratte Shirley. His poorly thought-out plan involved doubling his home's insurance coverage, putting the cat in a kennel, making sure Shirley's daughter stayed at a friend's house and removing some personal items ahead of time.

The couple opened the shutoff valve to their gas fireplace, and then rigged a timer to start the microwave, which was supposed to start the microwave oven and ignite the fumes from the gasoline they'd spread around the house. All of this was supposed to happen while the couple was out of town at a casino cementing their alibi.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned and it cost his neighbors, Dion and Jennifer Longworth, their lives, injured a dozen neighbors and damaged 80 homes in the subdivision. The Longworths' home was 80% destroyed from the flames when firefighters arrived. Jennifer was killed immediately when the second floor of their home pancaked. Dion was in the basement, begging firefighter Richard Shirven to get him out of there before the flames consumed him. Shirven tried to clear away the debris and pull Dion through a debris-choked hole, but to no avail. The basement became Dion's fiery coffin.  

An expert later testified that the built-up gas equaled three tons of TNT. The explosion caused over $4 million in losses. And the damage didn't stop there. Leonard would later try to hire a hitman to kill his friend and the key state witness, Mark Duckworth, because he knew too much about the insurance plot. Leonard received life without parole. Shirley has yet to be sentenced.

2. Slip sliding away

Andrew Gaber was a personal injury lawyer who had been accused of staging more than $400,000 worth of slip-and-fall injuries on sidewalks throughout Philadelphia. He paid his 46 runners anywhere from $100 to $500 for the bogus claims they brought to his office. Many of the "victims" were homeless people, addicts or other low-level street criminals.

He taught his cronies well, advising them not to file claims against State Farm, which had a reputation for sending suspicious claims to its special investigative unit, and to avoid areas with street cameras. He taught them to call 9-1-1 and to have the fire department or ambulance transport them to the hospital for their fake falls. The runners even filed police reports or acted as witnesses for the fake accidents.

Garber would contact the insurance company for the homeowner where the alleged accidents occurred and try to negotiate a settlement. A group of frustrated community groups helped put a stop to this fraud, and Garber killed himself before he could stand trial. His "associates" have been arrested or disappeared.

3. Contractor gets shingled

The 10-year fraud spree of an unscrupulous contractor was stopped by a few bundles of roof shingles and a smart homeowner. Matthew Cnuddle was hired by a homeowner to finish some roof work. The owner paid him $2,000 in cash and another $2,000 by check.

Home Depot delivered the shingles, but Cnuddle told the homeowner the shingles had been stolen when the home was burglarized. The owner filed a claim and purchased new shingles, but asked the Home Depot clerk if anyone had recently returned some shingles.

The staff said someone had returned some shingles that were very similar to the stolen ones. A store video confirmed that it was indeed Cnuddle who had returned the six bundles of shingles. Cnuddle was also operating without a contractor's license and could face up to 12 years in prison if convicted.

4. From hero to heartbreak

Beto Mejia gained national attention as a coach at a small high school in a poor California farm valley who inspired his team to become football champions. Even ESPN did a documentary on the popular coach.

But he lost everything over a bogus $4,000 claim.

Mejia claimed that someone stole his ATV from the bed of his pickup truck while he was having dinner at a local restaurant with some friends. While he recovered it a day later, it had been stripped for parts and the engine was damaged  or so he told the insurance company.

Investigators found no signs of tampering, and security footage showed that Mejia had not eaten at the restaurant the night before. The reality was that the ATV was broken and Mejia didn't want to pay for the repairs, so he invented the theft story. He pleaded no contest to insurance fraud in January 2016 and received two years of probation. He still might lose his job at the high school.

5. Coach turns arsonist

In New Orleans, Anthony Thomas was a well-known youth coach and a role model who had volunteered for decades in the community for various athletic programs. He was also a devious arsonist who tried to burn down some apartments for false insurance claims.

He had two associates sign fake leases for apartments in the first building, then seek inflated insurance payouts for furniture and other possessions they had reportedly lost in the fire. The first building went up in smoke and the bogus renters received $40,000 for their "lost" contents. When investigators came to look for the burned furniture, they couldn't find any and Thomas said he threw it out after the fire.

Two years later, Thomas tried a similar scheme only this time his renter, Don Andrew, spread gasoline around the building and set it on fire while Thomas was inside. Thomas was badly burned and Andrew lied and said an angry neighbor had started the fire. Thomas received 17 years for his part in the scam, and Andrew got 20 years.

6. Crooked contractors caught when roof caves in

Jack Thayer and his son, Ryan, were contractors in Bristol Township, Pa., who were known for donating to local causes, including youth sports teams. During their reign of terror, they ripped off at least 10 homeowners by doing shoddy repairs, stealing $675,000 from insurers and homeowners alike.

Homeowners who hired them were assured that they would do speedy repairs after fires, storms and other perils caused damage to their homes. Ryan would troll for victims, frequently showing up the same night a home was damaged or destroyed. Homeowners thought a local firm would be safe and reputable.

Many of their victims were older, such as Bill Vogt, a 79-year-old man who signed a $30,000 contract with the Thayers to have them rebuild his home after a tree crashed through the roof of the second floor. He paid them $25,000 up front and never saw them again.

When 84-year-old Robert Smedley's home was seriously damaged by an electrical fire, he hired the Thayers to board up his home and handle the reconstruction. Smedley and his daughters paid them $50,000 as a down payment for the construction, approximately one-third of the $157,531 estimate, plus another $10,167 to board up and secure the property.

Soon all of the work stopped and the Smedleys were unable to get a response on when it would begin again. One daughter finally reached Jack who told her he wasn't sure when it would restart. Smedley was forced to hire another contractor.

After a series of complaints, county detectives started investigating the Thayers. Apparently, the father and son team never bothered to get permits for the work they did and decided to represent themselves at trial. Jack received seven to 20 years in state prison and Ryan received six to 20 years. They must also pay restitution to their victims.

7. Broker creates paper empire

A Baltimore insurance broker stole more than $100 million worth of insurance premiums from clients who trusted him to protect them. According to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, at least 4,000 clients of Jeffrey Cohen were victimized, and many were small concerns that were barely making it.

Once he was caught, officials say he plotted hits on the officials who threatened his organization. Cohen created the illusion of a healthy firm when it was actually running at a $9 million deficit. He was able to garner a high financial rating, which allowed him to court potential clients and convince state regulators that he was financially sound.

He attracted thousands of clients and Cohen used their money to fund his lavish lifestyle that included a waterfront home in Florida, three homes in Maryland, and several cars, including an Aston Martin, a Bentley and a Lexus SUV with the vanity plate, "RISKTKR."

Eventually his paper empire crumbled and Cohen left scores of nightclubs and bars without any coverage. A patron was stabbed at one restaurant he insured and received a $4.3 million judgement that was never paid.

Cohen then amassed a collection of weapons and planned to kill the attorneys, judge and a government official involved with his trial. In December 2015, he was sentenced to 37 years in prison.

8. Insurance broker has expensive tastes

Earl O'Garro was another insurance broker with expensive tastes. His Hartford, Conn.-based company, Hybrid Insurance Group, seemed to be doing very well, but it was in fact a Ponzi scheme.

O'Garro paid himself well  a salary in the high six figures  bought a $1 million luxury waterfront condominium in the Dominican Republic, wore expensive, tailored suits, and drove a $100,000 sedan. He frequented only the finest restaurants and had an $8,000-a-month office.

His lavish lifestyle soon emptied his bank accounts. He started stealing his clients' premiums to support his standard of living. He created business clients in order to get loans to finance phantom insurance policies. Despite his crumbling empire, he was able to get lenders to provide over $1 million in loans, which he spent on a luxury condo, personal trainer and tuition at a private school for his children.

Stealing $900,000 in premiums for two insurance policies for the city of Hartford proved his undoing. It took less than an hour for the federal jury to convict the 32-year-old on three counts. Each count carries a maximum of 20 years, but since this is his first conviction, experts believe he will receive a lesser sentence.

  9. I love you … goodbye

Toni Henthorn, 50, was a prominent eye surgeon in Jackson, Miss. Her husband, Harold, was fundraiser for nonprofits and churches. They moved to Denver after getting married, and had a daughter named Haley.

To celebrate their 12th anniversary, Harold had planned a surprise hike in the mountains on a beautiful September day. Toni's brother received a text from Harold later that day simply stating, "She's gone."

Toni had slipped off of a 140-foot cliff. Harold claimed he'd tried to give her mouth-to-mouth, although her lipstick was undisturbed when rescuers found her. Harold did not sound distraught when he phoned 911 and gave the operator a detailed description of their location and what had occurred.

As investigators looked further into her death, things didn't seem to add up. His answers to their questions kept changing. The investigators found a trail map in Henthorn's Jeep with an "X" marking the spot where Toni fell. He didn't have an answer when confronted with the map.

Harold hadn't spent much of the marriage working and lived off of Toni's money. There were three insurance policies totaling $4.5 million that would allow him to live very comfortably without her. At his trial, he was convicted after just 11 hours of deliberations.

Police are also looking into the death of his first wife, who died when their Jeep mysteriously crushed her as she changed a tire, 20 years earlier.

10. Ph.D. tries to steal $7.5 million

A numbers whiz who holds a Ph.D. in math, Rafael Chikvashvili thought he was smart enough to steal $7.5 million from Medicare and Medicaid.

He wasn't.

He ran Alpha Diagnostics in Baltimore, an imaging firm that provided X-rays, ultrasounds, heart exams and other medical tests. Because most of his patients were senior citizens, he used portable equipment, which allowed him to do the tests in the various nursing homes.

Instead of using physicians to read the scans, he had his untrained employees write the reports and then billed Medicare as if they had been reviewed by doctors. He even forged doctors' signatures on the reports.

His fraud cost several patients their lives, as his inept employees missed signs of congestive heart failure in one patient and mild congestive heart failure in another patient that caused her to bleed out during and after an operation.

Chikvashvili was convicted in February 2016 and is currently in jail as he awaits sentencing.

What you can do

Smart consumers can protect themselves and their loved ones from scammers, and the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud offers these tips:

• Be wary of door-to-door sales people or unsolicited sales telephone calls.
• Keep personal information such as your social security number, bank account numbers and Medicare ID secret.
• After a car crash, take photos of the vehicles, passengers and damage to help prevent fake injury and damage claims.
• Check out service providers before hiring them or paying any deposits. The Better Business Bureau, Angie's List and other services can provide ratings and feedback on vendors.
• Contact the state insurance department or National Crime Bureau to report a scam.   

Special thanks to the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud for sharing their information on these fraudsters.