In the world of U.S. life insurance crime is so common that the insurance companies have their own departments of investigation to look into suspicious cases. A special group of companies deals with insurance policies covering end-of-life situations.
First of all, what is a difficult period for the families concerned, is only a
statistical factor for those dealing with life insurance as a financial market called the "First Market". It deals with some 1,200 billion U.S. dollars.
The ethical issues are buried in the second layer of life insurance services' the "Secondary Market". In this layer, policies are sold as bundled papers, a practice which can have worldwide consequences.