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relates to Gangs Are Fake-Killing People in India for Insurance Payouts — Photo illustration: Chris Burnett; Photos: Sadiq Naqvi (5)

The Heist Issue

Gangs Are Fake-Killing People in India for Insurance Payouts

A wave of fraudulent claims swept through the rural villages of India’s northeast. Police crackdowns and Covid seemed to snuff them out—for a while, anyway.

By

Snigdha Poonam and

July 1, 2022, 4:01 AM UTCCorrectedJuly 1, 2022, 10:53 AM UTC

Amina Parbin was alone, sweeping the floor of her parents’ home, when a man arrived on a January day in 2017 with a file in his hands. He introduced himself as a life insurance investigator and began pulling out papers. A payout claim. A passport photo. A death certificate—her death certificate. “Did you know Amina?” he asked.

“I am Amina,” she responded, and “I am, in fact, alive.”