A woman who faked her own death for a $700,000 life insurance payout has been spotted withdrawing a wad of cash while shopping in Perth as she awaited sentencing for fraud offences.
F45 instructor Karen Salkilld, 42, faces up to seven years in prison for posing as her own partner and using the woman’s Medicare card and driving licence to fraudulently obtain the death benefit.
Wearing a salmon-pink PE Nation jumper and black leggings, Salkilld frowned and clenched her fists as she withdrew a wad of $50 notes from a cash machine in Perth’s southern suburbs on Thursday.
She is due to appear in court next week charged with a massive insurance fraud scheme in which she faked her death in a car crash in the Western Australian seaside town of Broome.
Salkilld used a forged death certificate, a letter from the Western Australian District Court and a purported report from the inquest into her ‘death’ in December last year.
The mother of two, from Cable Beach in Broome, lives in south Perth with her two children and her partner, who is not involved in the Salkilld fraud.
The fitness trainer who is believed to have died was captured on camera last month going about her daily activities in Perth’s southern suburbs.
She was spotted in a shopping centre and outside her home, and was also filmed vacuuming and welcoming customers to her F45 franchise in Applecross.
Karen Salkilld was spotted shopping in Perth’s southern suburbs on Thursday as she awaited sentencing for faking her own death to collect a $700,000 life insurance payout
Salkilld frowned and clenched her fists as she pulled a wad of $50 bills from an ATM
Mother of two faces up to seven years in prison for shameless fraud
Attacked by a 9News reporter As Salkilld left the parking lot of the North Lake shopping center, she became angry when asked, “Why did you fake your own death?”
She clapped her hands to her chest and snapped back, “What the hell! Who are you guys? I’m not talking to you guys.”
Journalist Michael Stamp followed her as she prepared to cross the road and asked: ‘How did you think you were going to get away with it? You’re accused of serious fraud offences.
Salkilld started the fraud on February 7 this year by posing as her partner to make a life insurance claim.
The claim alleged that Karen Salkilld had died in a car accident in Broome two months earlier. In support of the claim, it was based on forged documents: a death certificate, a letter from the Western Australian District Court and a report from an inquest into Karen Salkilld’s death.
Salkilld (above), who is believed to have died in a car crash in Broome, WA last December, had in fact faked her own death to claim more than $700,000 in life insurance
The F45 fitness instructor was left angry when she was confronted on camera about her elaborate fraud, which saw her posing as her own partner to claim a payout from her life insurance policy
A week later, the insurance company paid out $718,923 to a bank account Salkilld had opened in her partner’s name.
In the following days, Salkilld made several large withdrawals from the account, but due to the size of the withdrawals, the bank blocked the payments and the account was frozen.
To unlock the key, Salkilld went to the local police station in Palmyra with several forms of identification, including a Medicare card and a driver’s license. They were certified by a police officer.
Although these copies of the IDs had been heavily altered before being submitted to the bank, they failed the verification process, Nine reported.
When 9News reporter Michael Stamp asked Salkilld why she faked her own death, she replied: ‘Jesus Christ, go find someone else’
Con artist Karen Salkilld is an assistant football coach for the East Fremantle Sharks club
Salkilld is pictured left in Broome, where she claimed she died in a car crash last December; and right in her F45 gym, where she was going about her business this week after pleading guilty to a $700,000 fraud.
Police arrested Salkilld in March. At her first court appearance, she pleaded guilty to offences including obtaining an advantage by fraud and intent to defraud by knowingly using a false record.
Salkilld is a former player and assistant football coach for the East Fremantle Sharks AFL club.
Her social media pages feature photos of her with her two children in Broome.
When 9News followed her to her Perth home, she turned to the reporter and said: “Are you trying to make things worse? Or are you trying to get F45 back under the flag or what?”
When she entered her property, she shouted through the gate, “Jesus Christ, go find someone else.”
The verdict will be announced in the Western Australian District Court on July 26. The date on which Salkilld will be told her fate will be set.
