Plant City woman nabbed in $200K elder fraud case

PLANT CITY — Financial advisor and insurance agent Paula Kampf Albertson admitted to her role in an insurance beneficiary fraud case where authorities say she stole $200,000 from senior citizens.

Albertson, according to a release from Florida CFO Jeff Atwater, pleaded guilty to insurance fraud. Based in Plant City, Albertson faces a minimum of 21 months in prison, in addition to immediate license termination and a ban on profits from practicing insurance. “Fraud of any kind is intolerable, but it is especially repugnant when it involves taking advantage of the trust of Florida seniors,” Atwater says in the statement.

Investigators with the Florida Department of Financial Services' Division of Insurance Fraud contend Albertson exploited her elderly clients when she made her own family the beneficiaries of her clients' insurance benefits.

Albertson, investigators say, changed the home address on a dying client's annuity policy to her own home address in May 2011. She later ordered a change of beneficiary form that named her husband and stepson, both licensed insurance agents with the Albertson Financial Group, the beneficiary and contingent beneficiary. Florida law prohibits agents from being named beneficiaries on a client's policy, but investigators say Albertson lied on the form by saying her husband and stepson were the client's cousin and nephew.

The client passed away a few weeks later, Atwater's office says, and Albertson's husband fraudulently collected more than $150,000 after filing a death benefits claim. Investigators say there are at least four other victims of Albertson's actions, according to the release, but in three cases the loss dates are beyond the statute of limitations.