The Man Who Insured his Rare Cigars, Smoked Them All, Then Collected on the insurance–Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
A man bought a box of rare, expensive cigars, then took out fire insurances on them. When he had finished smoking them, he filed a claim against the insurance company. The company turned down his claim, but he filed a lawsuit and won, getting $15,000 from the insurance company.
The Truth:
A little too slick to be true, and it isn’t. No evidence of this case has ever been found and it has been around as an urban legend since at least 1968 when we first ran across it and researched it.
updated 07/06/07