Fraudcraft

Teena

Join host Teena every week as she takes you into the world of FraudcraftTM, the billion-dollar underground economy created inside the industry of commercial insurance, most notably, California workers’ compensation, by the tradecraft of fraud syndicatesTM, their predatory tactics against people who they hook, buy & sell like human cash crops in capping schemes.    Each week you’ll get in-depth discussions and interviews with other subject matter experts, thought leaders and angel disruptors, business owners, employees, prosecutors, applicant and defense attorneys, investigators, medical and legal providers, in discussing & sharing lessons of FraudcraftTM , industry leadership influence, and the trajectory of the future with AI. Here we promote the innovative mindset for scalable solutions.    FraudcraftTM is your ticket to see the inside of these schemes, a landscape once controlled by restricted access.    This is the podcast I wish existed when I first began my career. These are the people who have cracked the code on what they love & sharing their craft to help others. Here we shout cheers to the wisdom of passion, innovation, solutions, creations, evolution, revolution, invention, inspiration & the celebration of us all.    *FraudcraftTM is a term coined by Teena in identifying the sources and methods of organized fraud criminals in commercial insurance fraud and the study of the criminology and victimology of these organize fraud schemes.    Subscribe and follow our community and join us in simply having fun together.

  1. Aug 13

    Californians pay $89M to Fight Fraud-and Still Losing. Is Dept of Insurance part of the problem?

    Part 2 of 3 — Inside CDI: the money, the leadership, the system Ashley Ritchie breaks down the specific failures driving California's workers' comp fraud crisis — not opinion, casework. Covered in this episode: California's Fraud Assessment Commission pays out ~$89M/year to fight fraud — CDI gets 45% — but funding urgency spikes every April for grant reporting instead of running year-round CDI wanted to raise detective pay using its own existing budget to stop losing people to Cal DOJ (same job, better pay) — and was told no, even with the money sitting there In 17 years, CDI was fully staffed for maybe 3-4 of them — LA is chronically understaffed Sergeant promotion requires as little as 1 year of detective experience — leadership sometimes approves cases in fraud categories they've never worked themselves When bail reform passed, a staged-collision fraud ring (19+ crashes, fake IDs, no fixed address) nearly walked free — prosecutors had to fight to keep them held Special master search warrants (for doctors' and attorneys' offices) can stall a case for months over approval bottlenecks District attorney investigators rotate units every 2-3 years — by the time they know insurance fraud, they're reassigned No dedicated task force exists for organized workers' comp fraud rings, despite the scale of the problem This is the machinery behind the fraud crisis / workers comp crises— and why it keeps outrunning the people paid to stop it. 🔔 Subscribe to the podcast 👍 Hit like on this video 💬 Comment your questions 🤝 Join our community #WorkersCompFraud #InsuranceFraud #CDI #CaliforniaWorkersComp #FraudCraft #followthemoney  Disclaimer: The views of the guests are their own & may not necessarily reflect the views of Fraudcraft the podcast. However in order to incite change & understand problems, we need to present all of the sides of the system connected to the issues. Support the show

    Californians pay $89M to Fight Fraud-and Still Losing. Is Dept of Insurance part of the problem?

  2. Aug 13

    Why CA Dept of Insurance Most Productive Fraud Investigators Ended Up Under Internal Affairs

    Part of our 3-part series inside the California Department of Insurance. 17 years in. Detective. Sergeant. Trainer. Ashley Ritchie left CDI in 2025 — and she's laying out exactly how the agency tasked with fighting insurance fraud actually operates. Causal link between rising workers comp / fraud crises & the failures in our law enforcement systems that are supposed to protect us.  Inside this episode: The LA office pulls 35-40% of the state's fraud referrals — and was fully staffed for maybe 2 of Ashley's 17 years A new detective takes roughly 2 years to become fully operational — hiring alone can take a year CDI trains detectives, then watches them leave for DOJ for 10-20% more pay 45% of CDI's entire budget goes to workers' comp fraud — its single highest-funded category, still chronically understaffed Auto fraud investigations get frozen almost every year by March — the money runs out that fast The rejection letter every SIU dreads: "there are elements that indicate fraud exists... we will not be assigning an investigator" The detectives training new hires — CDI's most productive people — ended up under Internal Affairs investigation Performance evaluations, by Ashley's own account, don't measure case closures, restitution, charges, or convictions Her message to CDI leadership: stop treating detectives as full police officers only when it's convenient Why this matters: this isn't abstract bureaucracy — it's the pipeline that decides whether the fraud driving up your workers' comp premiums ever gets investigated at all. 🔔 Subscribe to our podcast 👍 Like this video 💬 Comment — tell us what surprised you most 👥 Join our community #fraudcraft #fraud #fraudalert #fraudprevention #fraudschemes #fraudinvestigation  #crimeinvestigation #workcomp #workerscomp #caworkerscomp  #lawenforcement #california  #followthemoney  #insurancefraud  Disclaimer: The views of the guests are their own & may not necessarily reflect the views of Fraudcraft the podcast. However in order to incite change & understand problems, we need to present all of the sides of the system connected to the issues. Support the show

    Why CA Dept of Insurance Most Productive Fraud Investigators Ended Up Under Internal Affairs

  3. Aug 10

    It's cheaper to pay the fraud than fight it- real reasons behind California Work Comp Crisis

    "Conjured nonsense." That's how DaisyBill CEO Catherine Montgomery describes California's official workers' comp data — and it explains everything else in this episode. The state won't enforce SB 1160, a 2016 law requiring utilization-review data. The DWC made its own mandatory reporting system (WCIS) voluntary. When RAND spent $300,000 studying care delays, only 2 claims administrators — out of hundreds — agreed to hand over data.  The result: a taxpayer-funded study that concluded there is no data. Meanwhile, carriers and TPAs are quietly starving out the doctors who play by the rules — 17% below fee schedule, $200 million diverted to entities that treat no one in 2022 alone, and 547,476 documented violations filed against carriers since 2022 with zero response. That's not a coincidence. It's the mechanism. When legitimate providers can't get paid and no one publishes the data to prove it, the system doesn't just fail — it selects for the people willing to work outside it. Shutting out legit providers & ushering in the fraudsters. This is what's taking down California & we are all paying the high price.  This is the broken system and many of the contributing factors behind the real, unspoken (until now) reasons behind the California Workers Comp & Fraud Crises.  🔔 Subscribe to our podcast 👍 Hit like on this video 💬 Comment your take below 🤝 Join our community #fraudcraft #fraud #fraudalert #fraudprevention #fraudschemes #fraudinvestigation #crimeinvestigation #workcomp #workerscomp #caworkerscomp  #lawenforcement #california #followthemoney #insurancefraud  Disclaimer: The views of the guests are their own & may not necessarily reflect the views of Fraudcraft the podcast. However in order to incite change & understand problems, we need to present all of the sides of the system connected to the issues. Support the show

  4. Aug 1

    Is law enforcement losing the fraud war in California: From Inside the Dept of Insurance- Pt 1/3

    She spent 17 years investigating insurance fraud from inside California's own fraud police. She just walked away. Here's what she's finally saying. Ashley Ritchie was a Detective Sergeant with the California Department of Insurance (CDI) — the agency that's supposed to catch the people scamming your insurance, your employer, and ultimately you. In Part 1 of this 3-part series, she takes us inside the machine most people never see. What you'll learn: How someone actually becomes a fraud detective in California — and why the process is stranger than you'd think What happens the moment a fraud tip lands on a detective's desk (spoiler: most of it gets triaged in minutes, not days) Why arresting a nonviolent fraud suspect can take a six-person team and a full day of red tape The United States Postal Service federal loophole that pays some people tax-free workers' comp checks for life  Why California's own workers' comp law makes it almost easier to commit fraud than to follow the rules What actually counts as "lying" in a fraud investigation — and why most of what people assume is a lie, legally isn't This isn't a true-crime story. It's the actual playbook — and once you see it, you'll understand why fraud keeps winning. #fraudcraft #fraud #fraudalert #fraudprevention #fraudschemes #fraudinvestigation #businessstrategy #crimeinvestigation #workcomp #workerscomp #caworkerscomp #law #lawenforcement #california #money #followthemoney #insurancetips #insurancefraud  Disclaimer: The views of the guests are their own & may not necessarily reflect the views of Fraudcraft the podcast. However in order to incite change & understand problems, we need to present all of the sides of the system connected to fraud. Have you ever suspected fraud and wondered what really happens after you report it? Drop it in the comments 🔔 Subscribe to the podcast (it's free) 👍 Hit like on this video 💬 Comment your questions 🤝 Join our community Support the show

    Is law enforcement losing the fraud war in California: From Inside the Dept of Insurance- Pt 1/3

  5. Jul 2

    California Workers' Comp Voucher Fraud Exposed: The $64M Annual Scam Nobody's Talking About

    Karen Johnson - Voucher Fraud - Series Part 1 California's workers' comp system gives injured workers $11,000 to restart their careers. Fraud syndicates found out — and turned it into a $64 million-a-year scheme involving fake schools, forged signatures, and claimants who never set foot in a classroom. Karen Johnson spent a decade as the lone investigator screaming about it, and almost no one was listening. [03:11] — What is voucher fraud? Karen breaks down the SJDB benefit, the $6K trust fund, and why so many providers are desperate to get on a claim. [13:19] — The moment she called insurance carriers to report fraud — and they told her it wasn't their problem. Why that response is exactly why fraud explodes. [21:27] — Karen gets pushed out of her state job for pursuing voucher cases too aggressively. Then $22M in criminal convictions proved she was right all along. [36:33] — The schools charging $6,000 to teach someone how to turn on a computer. Dead claimants still being billed. Signatures cut off settlement docs and taped onto enrollment forms. [44:44] — Karen's 10-year estimate puts voucher fraud at $64 million per year — a number not captured in any broader insurance fraud statistics. Karen Johnson is the nation's foremost expert on SJDB voucher fraud in California workers' comp. She spent five years at the Bureau for Private Post-Secondary Education building cases against fraudulent counselors and schools. 27 providers charged. 56 people facing over 400 felony counts. And 50% are still operating under a new name. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode — it's free. 👍 Hit LIKE if this opened your eyes. 💬 Drop your questions and thoughts in the comments — we read them all. 🤝 Join our community and be part of the conversation. [fraudcraftpodcast@gmail.com] 🎧 Watch or listen to Fraudcraft wherever you get your podcasts. Support the show

    California Workers' Comp Voucher Fraud Exposed: The $64M Annual Scam Nobody's Talking About

  6. Jul 2

    Fake Schools. Ghost Students. Forged Signatures. $64m a year fraud scheme in California Workers comp

    Voucher Fraud Series Part 2  Karen Johnson is the foremost expert in California's most overlooked fraud — SJDB voucher and counseling school fraud — and she's back on Fraudcraft to break it all down. In this episode, Karen pulls back the curtain on how fraud syndicates use vocational retraining vouchers as a weapon: dangling the $6,000 benefit (plus $5,000 in state RTW funds) to lure injured workers, pressure insurance carriers into faster settlements, and funnel kickbacks through a coordinated network of fraudster applicant attorneys, corrupt counselors, and doctors who certify workers as unable to return to work — keeping them trapped in the scheme. The most staggering stat Karen shares: roughly 75% of injured workers get enrolled in these counseling and retraining programs but NEVER attend — yet the insurance carrier was billed in full and never got the money back. Those costs are passed to employers. And then to you, the consumer. Karen has uncovered schools operating out of mailbox stores, dead claimants enrolled in cosmetology programs, forged DocuSign signatures, and a counseling school CEO facing 31 felony counts. This is syndicate-level fraud — and Karen has been fighting it alone for over a decade. 🎧 Watch or listen to Fraudcraft wherever you get your podcasts. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode — it's free 👍 Hit LIKE if this opened your eyes 💬 Drop your questions and thoughts in the comments  🤝 Join our community and be part of the conversation #fraudcraft #fraud #fraudalert #fraudprevention #fraudschemes #fraudinvestigation #businessstrategy #crimeinvestigation #workcomp #workerscomp #caworkerscomp #law #lawenforcement #california #money #followthemoney #insurancetips #insurancefraud Support the show

    Fake Schools. Ghost Students. Forged Signatures. $64m a year fraud scheme in California Workers comp

  7. Jun 14

    They're Cashing In Every Time You File a Claim — Inside the Fraud Machine Draining California Dry

    What's in this episode: Rich Duffy went from landscaping to baby claims adjuster to one of the most respected SIU investigators in the country — the path was anything but straight Why networking is the #1 weapon in fraud investigation — and why 1,000 LinkedIn connections means nothing if you never use them The California workers' comp system is its own beast: ancillary service fraud (interpreters, copy services, DME, voucher schools) is where the real money is being stolen A $6,000 return-to-work voucher sounds small — until data shows one billing code costing $10 million a year with 60-70% of it going to fraud Attorneys filing workers' comp claims on clients who were just fired — without the client's knowledge — to fund their PI practice on the other side The SIBTF (Subsequent Injury Benefit Trust Fund) exploded from $5M to $100M in payouts — and almost no one is watching it Fraudster attorneys get a perpetual cut of SIBTF payments for as long as the claimant lives. Let that sink in. The AI arms race: insurance carriers operate with guardrails. Fraudsters don't. Rich breaks down exactly why that gap is terrifying Patients aren't patients anymore — they're widgets. Rich explains the economics behind why some doctors make more on kickbacks than on treatment Latino and immigrant communities are being specifically targeted by fraud rings — often by members of their own community who know exactly how to exploit cultural trust in licensed professionals The future SIU investigator is part detective, part data analyst, part AI trainer — and Rich tells you what that actually looks like in practice Why prosecutors keep losing fraud cases — and what has to change for juries to actually care 🎙️ New episodes drop weekly — subscribe so you never miss a guest. If this opened your eyes, hit LIKE — it's the single biggest thing you can do to help this show reach the people who need it most. Drop a comment below — What surprised you most? What do you want Teena to dig into next? We read every one. 🔔 Hit the bell to get notified the moment a new episode goes live Support the show

    They're Cashing In Every Time You File a Claim — Inside the Fraud Machine Draining California Dry

  8. Jun 12

    CA Workers' Comp Fraud Syndicates are Harder to Catch Than the Mafia. Here's Why

    They don't have a boss. They don't have a chain of command. Half of them have never met each other — and that's exactly how it's designed. San Bernardino Deputy DA Michael Chiriatti breaks down why California's workers' comp fraud networks are deliberately fragmented — multiple hubs, multiple spokes, rabbits at the bottom of rabbit holes who don't even know other rabbit holes exist. One colonel over here, another major over there, separate armies, no shared map. That's not a flaw in their operation. That's the strategy. And it's why investigators can't just find the top and work down. 🎙️ Full episode on Fraudcraft — on YouTube & wherever you listen to podcasts. 🔔 Subscribe free 👍 Like if this opened your eyes 💬 Comment your questions — Michael is coming back Proceeds support Joshua Tree No Kill Animal Shelter & Stray Cat Alliance #fraudcraft #caworkerscomp #insurancefraud #truecrime #lawenforcement Support the show

See All (49)

Ratings & Reviews

4
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Join host Teena every week as she takes you into the world of FraudcraftTM, the billion-dollar underground economy created inside the industry of commercial insurance, most notably, California workers’ compensation, by the tradecraft of fraud syndicatesTM, their predatory tactics against people who they hook, buy & sell like human cash crops in capping schemes.    Each week you’ll get in-depth discussions and interviews with other subject matter experts, thought leaders and angel disruptors, business owners, employees, prosecutors, applicant and defense attorneys, investigators, medical and legal providers, in discussing & sharing lessons of FraudcraftTM , industry leadership influence, and the trajectory of the future with AI. Here we promote the innovative mindset for scalable solutions.    FraudcraftTM is your ticket to see the inside of these schemes, a landscape once controlled by restricted access.    This is the podcast I wish existed when I first began my career. These are the people who have cracked the code on what they love & sharing their craft to help others. Here we shout cheers to the wisdom of passion, innovation, solutions, creations, evolution, revolution, invention, inspiration & the celebration of us all.    *FraudcraftTM is a term coined by Teena in identifying the sources and methods of organized fraud criminals in commercial insurance fraud and the study of the criminology and victimology of these organize fraud schemes.    Subscribe and follow our community and join us in simply having fun together.

Information

  • Creator
    Teena
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    49
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Fraudcraft
  • Show Website
    Fraudcraft