Insurance exists to protect clients from the unexpected, the unavoidable, and the unintended. According to marketingdegree.net, insurance is intended to act as a safety net that people pay into, against the prospect of the one day they fall and need to be caught. Unfortunately, more and more of today’s insurance claims are filed by frivolous handout-seekers. Modesty and self-awareness no longer seem to be factors as individuals continue to rely on their insurance providers for things they could have prevented.

5) Hot girls cause man to break his nose.

While Greece has long been known for it’s attractive scenery, it seems that some of the country’s residents are equally beautiful. While vacationing in Athens, a British man came upon a group of attractive bikini-clad women. He was so enthralled by the Grecian beauties that he didn’t see where he was going and walked right into a bus stop wall. The collision broke his nose.

The broken-nosed Brit called home, asking the insurance company to pick up the hospital bill. He claimed the women, who were Greek, were a location hazard akin to a natural formation.

Result: Claim approved, paid.

4) Robber falls in manhole while trying to escape.

Convenience stores, often called “mom and pop” shops, are very susceptible to robbery. Because of their location, late hours, minimal staff, and receipt of cash payments, these stores have found themselves so popular with thieves that they’ve had to be assigned special task forces just to stem the crime rate.

One Atlanta robber found it easy to hit a convenience store, but difficult to get away with it. While running from the police, he accidentally fell into a manhole. The officers quickly surrounded and apprehended the man.

Although not seriously injured, the man tried to get his insurance provider behind him. The city, he said, was reckless with their street cleaning and should have put signs around the uncovered opening.

Result: Claim not approved, not paid.

3) Monkey ruins man’s vacation.

There are many things that can thwart a peaceful vacation: needy kids, annoying foreigners, irritated locals. For one English traveler, distraction descended from the trees and it came with a tail.

While vacationing in Gibraltar, the man found himself followed and harassed by a monkey. The semi-wild Barbary Macaque scoped the visitor out, decided he was interesting, and proceeded to join him on his vacation.

A rare find outside of Africa or South America, the monkey accompanied the man everywhere he went, interrupting his meals and disrupting his conversations.

The man ended up leaving the Mediterranean peninsula with nothing but complaints and hair on his clothes, demanding to be reimbursed. He argued that because he couldn’t control the monkey or the outcome of the trip, it was within his rights to be compensated financially.

Result: Monkey stole camera, camera paid for.

2) Woman arrives at a snow-less ski resort.

When most people travel to ski resort they expect to be able to, well, ski. However when one woman arrived at an Alpine resort ready to enjoy the powder and champagne, she was met with an interesting challenge: there was no snow. The area had experienced an unusually warm winter, which resulted in less snowfall than the year before.

Aggravated, the woman contacted her insurance provider and tried to get them to pay for the cost of her equipment. She believed that because it was a ski resort it was obligated to provide snow, in one way or another.

Result: Claim not approved, not paid.

1) Abducted by aliens.

Eighty percent of the world’s population believes in the existence of extraterrestrial life. Flying saucers, hovering motherships, and late night kidnappings are thought by most people to be real evidence of interstellar neighbors who make periodic visits to our planet.

One man in Europe took his belief and made money from it. He approached Goodfellow Rebecca Ingrams Pearson, a novelty insurance firm that handles bizarre and inexplicable insurance claims. The company looked over the man’s case, which included experiences of abduction and experimentation, and decided that because the events were perpetrated by beings not of this earth, he couldn’t be blamed.

Result: Claim approved, 1 million pounds paid.

Outrageous and outlandish claims like these make for a good laugh, but we shouldn’t forget that insurance exists ostensibly to provide security against some of the ill fortune that inevitably visits everyone at some time or another, not to reward people for their own irresponsibility or make up for unexpected yet inconsequential unpleasantness. Fortunately relatively few claims along the lines of those above actually amount to anything. However, we shouldn’t turn too blind an eye to the frivolity of claims like these when many folks’ insurance still doesn’t cover basic health care.