Here are some things to remember during the process of buying life insurance that will help you to avoid getting ripped off:

• If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t allow yourself to get sucked into a scam just because it’s attractive.
• Don’t ignore mail from your insurance company. Even if your agent tells you the correspondence is a mistake, you should follow up with the company directly.
• Watch out for a policy that promises “vanishing premiums.” You may find that the only thing that vanishes are your premiums when the company takes them from you. This can be a legitimate feature, but make sure to check it out first.
• Don’t get pressured into buying too soon. While you can’t be sure if or when disaster will strike, there is the highest probability that you will live long enough to have a few days to do some research and consider the purchase.
• Don’t buy something you don’t understand. No one expects you to become an expert with actuarial tables, but you should grasp at least all of the basic concepts.
• Don’t confuse life insurance with retirement income. Yes, some policies do offer a cash value. These “whole life” policies are very much out of style, however, and most experts believe that term life insurance is the more useful and affordable product.
• Keep everything. Make sure you have a hard copy printout of your policy, and store it somewhere safe.
• Never give money to anyone without a receipt. This includes your insurance agent.
• Don’t sign any incomplete forms. If a form has blank spaces, wait until the insurance company fills them out before signing.

In addition, you or a family member can become a victim of life insurance fraud. Someone may take out a policy without your knowledge, and benefit when you pass away even though you didn’t sign off on anything.

To be sure, the life insurance companies have fraud detection mechanisms, and they do catch some of the perpetrators. Still, they could use a helping had, at times. Here are some ways you can be on the lookout for life insurance fraud:

• Learn about life insurance fraud. In many cases, fraud takes place without the knowledge of the insured individual, or they are tricked into a policy that the fraudulent person is named as beneficiary. If a relative or other loved one is getting bills for an insurance policy that they’re not familiar with, or if they’re getting notifications from a life insurance company, it can indicate that there has been some sort of fraud.
• Signatures are important, too. If a long lost cousin suddenly comes out with a life insurance policy on a relative that’s been in a coma for five years, you have reasons to be suspicious. If you know for a fact that the person can’t sign their name, it should raise a flag.
• Talk to authorities. If you suspect that there has been life insurance fraud, talk to your local police department. You can also contact the life insurance company, who can take the investigation way beyond what you’re going to be able to do on your own.

Photo via Derrick Coetzee

A jury, however, believes that Sweeney started the fire on purpose with the intention of killing his wife in order to try to claim £500,000 in life insurance payments.

The Dutch court originally acquitted Sweeney of murder. Sweeney and Davies lived in the Dutch town of Steensel, near the border of Belgium. That was more than 13 years ago.

The prosecutors, however, were convinced that Sweeney was to blame and they appealed the verdict.  A new investigation using modern forensic science was launched. This process involved, among other things, of creating a replica of the bedroom where Miss Davies died. They order 12 beds from the English manufacturer that were identical to the one in which she died in order to create a series of test fires.

These tests demonstrated that Sweeney, who is now in his 50s, started the fire. He used bottles of inflammable liquid to start the fire. His wife choked to death from the fumes, which an expert described as a “horrible and extremely painful” way to die.

The family of the dead woman has been waiting a long time for justice. It is, of course, bittersweet, as nothing the court does will bring the woman back.

Sweeney’s wives have met with a series of misfortunes. His first wife, an American medical student named Jeannie, was killed in a car crash. Sweeney and second wife, Liz Larson, separated amicably, and remained friends. However, Sweeney’s third wife, Beverly Flint, met with disaster, as well. Flint and Sweeney had two daughters. Flint died mysteriously in 1993 during a visit from her parents just two days after she had had a medical check-up.

At the time, Sweeney claimed that his 33-year-old wife had suffered a heart attack. She had had what doctors called a “a heart murmur” when she was 11 but her family had been assured that it was not life-threatening.

Sweeney then dated Chris Rowley, an Australian, to whom he bragged that he got half a million pounds from the insurance company as a result of Flint’s death. Not long after, he met Miss Davies through an advertisement in Private Eye magazine.  Miss Davies had a £100,000 life insurance policy dating from 1993 and three months before her death the couple bought the house in Steensel with a £194,000 mortgage in her name backed by a another life insurance policy.