What’s the Scam?

by cactus

What’s the Scam?

Over the years my wife has known her, a friend of hers has developed a, shall we say, checkered past. That includes a felony (for drunk driving), at least one bankruptcy, as well as a number of questionable deals in which she was engaged in partnership with her husband. (She recently began divorce proceedings against him.) For example, my understanding is that the couple sold a vehicle about a year ago, and, ahem, activities related to the sale resulted in grand larceny charges plus against her husband and a no contest plea from him. I recall hearing about a number of other interesting misadventures the couple had had over the years.

I’m swamped, so I’m going to cut to the chase. My wife’s friend was in a bar one night, and met another felon who hired her to sell health insurance to small companies. (There was a small matter of obtaining a license, but that was achieved in short order.) I hear things third hand, mind you, but my understanding is that the ratio of felons to non-felons in the office is surprisingly high considering that social security numbers and financial information are provided to the agent by clients. I understand the concept of rehabilitation, but like I said, that ratio is high enough that it isn’t happening by accident.

And then there’s another thing. My understanding is that my wife’s friend is now making upwards of $4,000 a week. That is a not-insubstantial amount of money, especially considering that a) she has only been at this three months, b) she had zero experience or knowledge of health insurance before this point, and c) she doesn’t have any particular skillsets that relate to health insurance or health insurance sales. Another factoid: it seems she gets a 28% commission. That’s her take-home, not the office or her boss or any of the other fixed costs. Also, I looked up the insurance company which has most of the policies she sells, and that company, at least, is definitely legitimate.

So I’m wondering what’s going on here. Any ideas?
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by cactus