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‘Offence against the community’: fraudster jailed for faking death

A Perth gym owner who collected a life insurance payout of more than $700,000 after faking her own death was yesterday sentenced to three years in jail.

Karen Salkilld pleaded guilty earlier this month to defrauding insurer TAL.

She had made a claim on February 7 this year with TAL subsidiary InsuranceLine, under a policy that listed a former partner as the beneficiary.

The couple had been in a relationship for several years but split last year. There is no evidence the ex-partner was aware of the scheme to cheat the life insurer.

Salkilld had copies of her former partner’s identification documents, including a passport, and used them to help her collect the cash.

In her insurance claim, she said she had died in a motor vehicle accident in Broome, WA, in December last year.

She copied and altered a death certificate, a letter from the coroner’s court and a record of investigation into the “death”.

She opened an account with MyState Bank Tasmania in the name of her ex-partner, and in email correspondence with the bank she pretended to be the former partner.

On February 14, the benefit of $718,963 was paid into the account, and Salkilld subsequently made transfers to creditors linked to her businesses. The deception was uncovered when the volume and type of transactions raised suspicions at MyState Bank Tasmania.

“The conclusion that your offending was motivated by greed is unavoidable,” District Court judge Vicki Stewart said yesterday. “You were living beyond your means and overcommitted yourself. 

“As the state prosecutor said ... this money comes from a pool. Insurance premiums go up for everybody, and in that sense, it really is an offence against the community.”

Judge Stewart made a restitution order that the bank release the funds back to TAL.


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