A local woman has been charged after allegedly submitting fraudulent veterinary invoices to receive payments from an insurance company, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.
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Florence Basmajian, 52, of Bristol Borough, is accused of creating and submitting three fake invoices for veterinary care that were purportedly for her Yorkshire terrier, Nadja. The invoices were part of an insurance claim filed with MetLife, which subsequently requested an investigation into the matter, according to court papers.
The case came to light last November when the Pennsylvania Attorney General Office’s Insurance Fraud Section referred an insurance fraud case involving MetLife to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.
The referral centered on a claim that included invoices from three different veterinary hospitals, dated between May and July 2023, and amounting to sums ranging from $250 to $3,000, authorities said.
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Upon review, MetLife flagged one of the invoices as fraudulent due to noticeable discrepancies in font sizes, colors, and the presence of whited-out sections, authorities said.
An investigator from MetLife’s special investigations unit found upon further examination that all three invoices were indeed fraudulent, according to authorities.
Investigations by district attorney detectives revealed that two of the three hospitals mentioned in the invoices confirmed that they had either not provided care to Basmajian’s pet or that the invoices provided were not genuine. One manager noted discrepancies in the invoice details compared to the hospital’s records, including incorrect dates and alterations in font sizes. The second hospital confirmed that the invoice did not originate from their facility, citing inconsistencies with their invoicing system and paper used.
Further investigation discovered that the third hospital listed on the invoices did not exist.
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Detectives said they talked with staff at the two existing clinics, one in Bristol Township and one in Philadelphia, to confirm the claims were false.
When interviewed at her residence in Bristol Borough, Basmajian admitted to the detectives that she had created and submitted the fraudulent invoices with the hope of obtaining money from the insurance claim, detectives said.
The woman reportedly used a program on her cell phone to make the fake invoices.
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Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
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