Social media likes, multiple sets of keys and a laundry detergent container might, at first glance, seem like they have nothing in common? But those all helped all helped Manitoba Public Insurance’s (MPI) Special Investigations Unit (SIU) saved Manitoba ratepayers nearly half a million dollars in 2022.

Insurance fraud comes in all forms and costs everyone. The price tag in Manitoba is approximately $50 a year for each customer, according to MPI data.

To raise awareness of this additional cost to ratepayers, the public auto insurer compiles and releases an annual list of unique cases based on the estimated financial savings to MPI’s ratepayers and the techniques used to confirm fraudulent actions and statements.

“Our SIU team works tirelessly to investigate suspicious claims in order to ensure the right claims are paid and for the right amount,” Marnie Kacher, chief operations officer with MPI said. “Thanks to their dedicated efforts in 2022, MPI closed nearly 3,000 investigations, which resulted in claims savings of over $14 million for customers.”

Here are the top five fraudulent claims made in 2022

Dirty laundry

After reporting to police and MPI that their vehicle was stolen from their home, a policyholder signed a sworn statement to an MPI adjuster claiming that the insured vehicle had been stolen and was destroyed by fire.

When found, a plastic container used to hold laundry detergent pods was located near the burned car.

After further investigation by law enforcement and SIU, reports surfaced that the claimant and the car had been spotted earlier in the day at a gas station, filling a similar container with gasoline.

After being presented with the evidence, the individual admitted the fire was accidental and the vehicle was not stolen as stated in their original statement.

The claim was denied based on the policyholder making a false statement, saving MPI ratepayers approximately $24,400.

Inflated injuries

After having their vehicle hit while another driver was changing lanes, a policyholder was deemed eligible to receive income replacement benefits and personal care assistance through MPI’s Personal Injury Protection Plan, based on the extent of their injuries.

The person claimed their injuries included a concussion, headaches, dizziness, back, knee and neck pain, an ankle injury and more. They reported that their ailments were so severe that they could not open water bottles or lift a pen and had limited mobility due to balance issues, nausea and full body pain. They claimed they could barely get out of bed.

An investigation was initiated, and surveillance showed the person was much more active than they reported to be. They were observed walking long distances, including shopping for hours at several stores, lifting bags of groceries, and driving a motorcycle on multiple occasions.

Based on the investigation, the individual was informed that their benefits would be terminated. MPI saved ratepayers more than $300,000 by denying the claim.

Fibbing friends

An insured individual reported returning to their vehicle to find it damaged by a nearby semi-truck. They also said that the other driver had already reported the collision to MPI and accepted liability for the collision.

After further investigation by the SIU team, it was discovered that the two people were known to one another and often interacted publicly on social media networks. A search of the damaged vehicle revealed jugs of coolant and oil in the back seat and after a full inspection, it was determined that the vehicle’s engine had seized due to lack of oil. The repair cost for the severe mechanical issues was anticipated to be $45,000.

When interviewed, the second driver confirmed they intentionally hit the vehicle with a rented moving truck after being asked for help by the vehicle owner. The owner also admitted to staging the collision.

Denying this claim saved ratepayers over $50,000.

Impaired interpretation

After being involved in a single-vehicle rollover, three heavily intoxicated people were found by law enforcement outside of a heavily damaged truck with all of the air bags deployed.

There were no witnesses to the incident and law enforcement had no way to determine who was driving the insured vehicle. However, one individual provoked more suspicion than the others, as the truck was registered in their spouse’s name.

One of the individuals was arrested for intoxication, held overnight and released the next day without any charges. Days later, the same person opened a single vehicle collision claim with MPI, indicating that they had hit a rut, lost control and rolled the vehicle. They also claimed they were alone in the truck and had not consumed any drugs or alcohol in the previous 24 hours.

After receiving a sworn statement from the individual, the claim was referred to the SIU, who quickly learned that the police had attended the scene. The claim was denied due to the false statement provided, saving ratepayers an estimated $62,000.

A key story

A person opened a theft claim on their vehicle, reporting that their SUV was stolen from their place of employment during an overnight shift. While speaking with law enforcement, they noted that they were in possession of one set of keys, after misplacing the only other set. However, when filing a claim with MPI they said they had both sets of keys at the time of the alleged theft.

The vehicle was recovered and towed to the MPI compound where it was examined by technicians. The examination concluded that the installed immobilizer was operational and functioning as designed. A coded and programmed transponder radio frequency signal is required to enable the engine to start and remain running, therefore a programmed key is the only way to start the vehicle. Additionally, the investigation found that the vehicle ignition was not manipulated or damaged.

As both sets of keys were determined to be in the customer’s possession despite the initial conflicting reports, the claim was denied, saving MPI’s ratepayers over $38,000.

Anyone with information about auto insurance fraud is encouraged to call the MPI TIPS Line toll-free at 1-877-985-8477, or submit information online at mpi.mb.ca.

All calls and reports are anonymous.

Dauphin Recreation Services lead hand Eddie Simpson makes repairs to the outdoor rink on DRS grounds, last week.

Recreation staff discovered damage at the rink Thursday, after vandals ripped apart the end boards to gain access to the breezeway between the ice surface and the DRS building.

The damage was discovered first thing in the morning and was repaired shortly after.

While for many the observance of Christmas this year is in the rearview mirror, for those who celebrate the holiday according to the Julian Calendar are currently in the midst of their celebration.

For Ukrainian people Christmas is the most important family holiday of the whole year. It is celebrated solemnly, as well as merrily, according to ancient customs that have come down through the ages and are still observed today.

Ukrainian Christmas festivities begin on Christmas Eve, Jan.6, and end on the Feast of the Epiphany, on Jan. 19.

Ukrainian Christmas customs are based not only on Christian traditions, but to a great degree on those of the pre-Christian, pagan culture and religion. The Ukrainian society was basically agrarian at that time and had developed an appropriate pagan culture, elements of which have survived to this day.

Christianity was introduced into Ukraine in 988 A.D. The flourishing pagan religion and traditions associated with it were too deeply rooted in the people to allow the Church to eradicate them completely. Therefore, the Church adopted a policy of tolerance toward most of the ancient customs and accepted many as part of the Christian holidays. In this way, the ancient pagan Feasts of Winter Solstice, Feasts of Fertility became part of Christian Christmas customs. This is perhaps why Ukrainian Christmas customs are quite unique and deeply symbolic.

The Christmas Eve Supper or Sviata Vecheria (Holy Supper) brings the family together to partake in special foods and begin the holiday with many customs and traditions, which reach back to antiquity. The rituals of the Christmas Eve are dedicated to God, to the welfare of the family, and to the remembrance of the ancestors.

With the appearance of the first star which is believed to be the Star of Bethlehem, the family gathers to begin supper.

The table is covered with two tablecloths, one for the ancestors of the family, the second for the living members. In pagan times ancestors were considered to be benevolent spirits, who, when properly respected, brought good fortune to the living family members. Under the table, as well as under the tablecloths some hay is spread to remember that Christ was born in a manger. The table always has one extra place-setting for the deceased family members, whose souls, according to belief, come on Christmas Eve and partake of the food.

A kolach (Christmas bread) is placed in the center of the table. This bread is braided into a ring, and three such rings are placed one on top of the other, with a candle in the center of the top one. The three rings symbolize the Trinity and the circular form represents Eternity.

A didukh (meaning grandfather) is a sheaf of wheat stalks or made of mixed grain stalks. It is placed under the icons in the house. In Ukraine, this is a very important Christmas tradition, because the stalks of grain symbolize all the ancestors of the family, and it is believed that their spirits reside in it during the holidays.

After the didukh is positioned in the place of honour, the father or head of the household places a bowl of kutia (boiled wheat mixed with poppy seeds and honey) next to it. Kutia is the most important food of the entire Christmas Eve Supper, and is also called God’s Food. A jug of uzvar (stewed fruits, which should contain twelve different fruits) and is called God’s Drink, is also served.

After all the preparations have been completed, the father offers each member of the family a piece of bread dipped in honey, which had been previously blessed in church. He then leads the family in prayer. After the prayer the father extends his best wishes to everyone with the greeting Khrystos Razhdaietsia (Christ is born), and the family sits down to a 12-course meatless Christmas Eve supper.

There are 12 courses in the supper, because according to the Christian tradition each course is dedicated to one of Christ’s Apostles. According to the ancient pagan belief, each course stood was for every full moon during the course of the year. The courses are meatless because there is a period of fasting required by the Church until Christmas Day. However, for the pagans the meatless dishes were a form of bloodless sacrifice to the gods.

The first course is always kutia. It is the main dish of the whole supper. Then comes borshch (beet soup) with vushka (boiled dumplings filled with chopped mushrooms and onions). This is followed by a variety of fish - baked, broiled, fried, cold in aspic, fish balls, marinated herring and so on. Then come varenyky (boiled dumplings filled with cabbage, potatoes, buckwheat grains, or prunes. There are also holubtsi (stuffed cabbage), and the supper ends with uzvar.

While many of the Ukrainian Christmas Eve customs are of a solemn nature, the custom of caroling is joyful and merry. Ukrainian Christmas songs or carols have their origins in antiquity, as do many other traditions practiced at Christmas time. There are two main groups of Christmas songs in Ukraine - the koliadky, whose name is probably derived from the Latin “calendae” meaning the first day of the month and which are sung on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day; the second group of Christmas songs is called shchedrivky, which is a derivation from the word meaning generous. The latter are sung during the Feast of the Epiphany.

Both koliadky and shchedrivky have pagan elements in them, but many have been Christianized. For example, one pagan carol tells of a landowner who is awakened by a swallow and told to make preparations, because three guests are coming to his house: the sun, the moon and the rain. In the Christianized version the three guests become Jesus Christ, St. Nicholas and St. George. The very popular Ukrainian carol in the United states, “Carol of the Bells”, in its originality is a shchedrivka and tells of a swallow (herald of spring) that has come to a landowner’s house and asks him to come out and see how rich he is, how many calves he has, and so on.

The themes of Ukrainian Christmas songs vary. Many, of course, deal with the birth of Christ and that occasion’s joyful celebrations, and many of them have apocryphal elements. Another group of carols contain purely pagan mythological elements. Still another group deals with Ukrainian history of the 9th to 12th centuries, mostly with the heroic episodes in the lives of some of the princes that were favourite among the people. One of the largest groups of carols are glorification songs - glorifying the landowner, the farmer, his wife, his sons, his daughters, every member of the family. These songs glorify their work, as well as their personal traits.

Caroling required extensive preparation. Each group had a leader. One member dressed as a goat. Another as a bag carrier, the collector of all the gifts people would give them. Yet another carried a six-pointed star attached to a long stick with a light in its center, which symbolized the Star of Bethlehem. In some places the people even had musical instruments, such as the violin, tsymbaly (dulcimer), or the trembita (a wooden pipe about eight-to-10 feet long, used in the Carpathian mountains by the Hutsuls).

Caroling was not a simple singing of Christmas songs; it was more of a folk opera. The carolers first had to ask for permission to sing. If the answer was yes, they entered the house and sang carols for each member of the family, even for the smallest child. Sometimes they even performed slow ritualistic dances. They also had to present a short humorous skit involving the goat. The custom of the goat accompanying the carolers has its origin in the pagan times when the goat represented the god of fertility. The skit showed the goat dying and then being brought back to life. This also symbolized the death of winter and the birth of spring. The caroling always ended with short well-wishing poems, appropriately selected for each home.

Koliadky and shchedrivky are the oldest groups of Ukrainian folk songs. They are sung by Ukrainians at Christmas time throughout the world.

Schedriy Vechir, or the Eve of Epiphany, on Jan. 18 according to the Gregorian Calendar is the “Second Holy Evening.” The meal is similar to the one served on Christmas Eve. After the evening meal, carols and songs expressing good wishes for the New Year, are sung. The Christmas tree would be taken down.

Epiphany is the final day of the Christmas season. It commemorates the baptism of Christ in the river Jordan by St. John the Baptist. On this day, it is the custom to bless water. The ceremony was usually held by a river, or now in modern times a vessel of water. Each family takes some of the holy water home.

After Epiphany the priest visits the homes of his parishioners and blesses their homes with holy water.

There’s a new solution to some of the long patient wait times in rural Manitoba hospitals, but it’s not coming in the form of more physicians.

A new virtual service called Q-Doc recently launched in Manitoba and it’s providing people the opportunity to connect with a physician 24/7. The goal of Q-Doc is to eliminate long patient wait times and unneeded emergency room visits.

Check out one local woman’s virtual visit to a Q-Doc in this week’s issue.

Roblin’s Parkland Bakery and Pastry Shop is playing a key role in the return of the much-loved KUB bread to the marketplace.

Winnipeg’s iconic KUB Bakery closed its doors this past November after almost 100 years in business due to a combination of factors including the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine driving up grain prices which increased the price of flour, and major equipment breakdowns.

Find out how it came about it in this week’s Review.

We hope each and everyone of you celebrated a wonderful holiday season.

Every year we take a look back at what we talked about over the year prior. So here goes.....

In January we told you about the Red Mailbox program. Initiated by Jen Klimack the program helps deal with ‘period poverty’ supplying free feminine hygiene product in a safe and confidential manner to be picked up from a red mailbox tacked onto the back entrance of the Anglican Church in Russell. A year later, the program is still running. Binscarth native Cody McLeod, his wife Jessica and girls Peyton and Emma were on hand as the AHL Iowa Wild honored their captain as he played the 1,000th game of his impressive 16 years in professional hockey. Early in January, the crew from Take a Year Off Lottery gathered together all the benefactors of the 2021 draw that had been made the previous November. That year 1,976 tickets were sold, just short of the 2,000 - tickets needed to sell out. 

Read the full year recap in this week's Russell Banner!

With the world coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, things got back to normal with the return of festivals, fairs and sports.

There were several highlights in Dauphin and the Parkland when it came to sports.

Perhaps the biggest highlight of 2022 in Dauphin was the Kings winning the eighth Turnbull Trophy in team history, with a 2-1 win in game seven of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League final against the Steinbach Pistons in Steinbach.

The Kings finished the regular season in first place in the West Division, posting a 41-12-1-0 record. They were second overall behind the Pistons (42-9-2-1).

In the first round, Dauphin beat the Swan Valley Stampeders in six games, then upended the Winkler Flyers in five games.

In the game seven victory over the Pistons, Roblin native Brayden Dube tallied the winning goal with 8:27 left in the third period to snap a 1-1 tie.

Three Kings won league awards, last season.

Parker Malchuk was named Top Defenceman, while Carson Cherepak won the Top Goaltender Award, as well as Playoff MVP and head coach Doug Hedley won the Coach of the Year honour.

Malchuk and Cherepak were also named to the first all-star team, while Kaden Bryant, who led the league with 36 goals, and defenceman Colby Jaquet were selected to the second all-star squad.

Dube and rearguard Jayden Jubenvill were named to the rookie all-star unit.

In the Centennial Cup in Estevan, Sask., Dauphin was first in their pool after the round-robin with three wins and a shootout loss. Their run at a national title ended with a 2-0 loss in the semifinals to the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Pickering Panthers.

It wasn’t all good news for the Kings, however, as a racist gesture by defenceman Klim Georgiev at the end of a game against the Waywayseecappo Wolverines made national headlines. Georgiev would receive an 18-game suspension, 11 regular season and seven playoff games.

Off the ice, the Kings announced in March, they had eliminated the team’s debt.

With the encouragement of his high school coaches, Dauphin’s Kelton Amendt was selected to the Manitoba Selects football program as a middle linebacker.

The program was facilitated by CFL professional athletes and trainers, with the focus being on athlete performance, competition, scouting and recruiting. Amendt’s goal is to play football at the college level.

A group of friends from Pine Creek took the basketball world by storm, winning the Hoop It Up national title in Tempe, AZ.

Get the full year recap in this week's Dauphin Herald!

The Manitoba RCMP West District, which includes the City and Rural Municipality of Dauphin, reported a decrease in calls for service in November compared to the same time period last year.

Calls for police assistance in the district dropped from 5,002 in 2021 to 4,821 this past November, a decrease of eight per cent.

The results were part of a provincewide trend which saw calls in the East District drop 11 per cent from 6,615 to 7,048 and the North District report a nine per cent drop from 6,389 to 5,862 calls for service.

Overall, the Districts’ occurrence counts combined decreased by 10 per cent from 15,651 in 2021 to 14,153 in 2022.

During November 2022, West District reported an increase in crimes against a person, which was up by 16 per cent, while crimes against property decreased by 17 per cent, over the same period in 2021.

The following increases and decreases were highlighted in the statistics released, last week.

Common police activities - Overall, there was a decrease of 11 per cent from 544 occurrences in 2021 to 486 in 2022. The largest decrease occurred in people reported missing, which was down by 42 per cent from 81 reports to 47. That was followed by suspicious person, vehicle or property which dropped by 24 per cent from 193 calls in 2021 to 147 in 2022. The largest increase was in the wellbeing check subcategory, which was up by 29 per cent from 84 to 108, and breach of peace, which increased 13 per cent from 106 to 120.

Crimes against a person - Crimes against a person increased overall by 16 per cent from 270 calls in 2021 to 312 in 2022, with increases occurring in forcible confinement which was up 200 per cent from three to nine. Robbery, extortion, harassment and threats reports were up 20 per cent from 76 to 91 and sexual offences were up 18 per cent from 22 to 26.

Crimes against property - Crimes against property decreased 17 per cent overall, from 708 calls for service in 2021 compared to 588 this year, with notable decreases in break and enter which was down by 35 per cent from109 to 71, followed by arson which was down by 31 per cent from 13 to 9. Theft over $5000 increased minimally by eight per cent from 48 to 52 occurrences.

Drug enforcement - There was a 10 per cent increase overall in drug enforcement from 30 occurrences in 2021 compared to 33 this year, with possession up 100 per cent from five to 10. Trafficking was down by 25 per cent from 20 to 15.

The complete statistics can be found at www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/mb/stats/index-eng.htm.

For a listing of the communities served by each District, visit www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/mb/stats/districts-eng.htm.

It’s a Christmas time gift that will benefit many.

Dauphin resident Jim Mulligan provided a yuletide boost to the Dauphin Hospital Foundation with a generous donation of $150,000. The donation was also made in recognition of his late wife Judy.

Mulligan was more than happy to help by donating to an organization that provides needed assistance to many health-care projects and initiatives.

“I am pleased to be able to assist the Dauphin Hospital Foundation with their work. I believe the hospital, and health care, needs all the help it can get,” Mulligan said. “I look forward to seeing the donation put to good use to assist health care staff on the tremendous work they do each and every day.”

Dauphin Hospital Foundation chairman Greg Thompson was pleased to accept Mulligan’s contribution and grateful for the strong support he threw behind the foundation.

“Mr. Mulligan is very community-minded and wanted to ensure that organizations like the foundation can continue making a difference with various projects which assist the hospital, personal care home and community health services,” Thompson said. “We can’t thank him enough.”