BOSTON — A Middleboro financial advisor pleaded guilty in February to swindling elderly and disabled victims of their annuities to cover his personal and business expenses.

Federal prosecutors say Paul McGonigle promised his clients he would maximize their retirement savings, but instead stole at least $1.4 million from the bank accounts of at least 15 individuals before he was caught. Authorities say he targeted the elderly, the disabled and mentally challenged clients.

In November, a Framingham couple pleaded guilty to charges that they forged hundreds of prescriptions for Oxycodone, Xanax and other highly addictive medicines over several years through their work as physicians at a medical practice.

The couple billed insurance carriers for thousands of dollars for the fraudulent prescriptions, investigators say.

The cases were among thousands investigated in recent years by the state’s Insurance Fraud Unit, an industry-funded agency created in 1991 by the state Legislature to crack down on fraud in health care, workers compensation, auto insurance and other industries.

Data released by the agency shows at least 703 individuals have been indicted and complaints have been filed against 3,855 other individuals since its inception.

Referrals by insurance agents, law enforcement, lawyers and other tipsters led to 4,568 cases being referred to the Attorney General, district attorneys, or U.S. Attorney’s office for prosecution, according to the agency’s semi-annual report to the state Legislature.

To date, at least 4,558 people have faced criminal charges, resulting in more than $100 million in restitution, according to the agency.

To date, as a result of IFB investigations, 1,033 people have been convicted of insurance fraud crimes with an additional 1,297 individual’s prosecutions continued without a finding,” Anthony DiPaolo, the agency’s executive director, wrote in the report.

Many of the 2022 investigations cited by the agency involved auto insurance fraud, including the case of a Methuen man who reported that his vehicle was allegedly damaged in a hit-and-run accident.

Investigators determined that the insurance claim he filed was bogus, because the damage was caused by a collision with a wooden “man-made” structure.

The man, who wasn’t named in the report, was charged with motor vehicle insurance fraud and ordered to pay $675 in restitution to the insurance company.

Another case involved a Beverly man, who was also not identified, who pleaded guilty to two counts of motor vehicle insurance fraud after he allegedly filed a bogus claim that his vehicle had been vandalized. Investigators determined that the man had previously filed similarly bogus claims with other insurance carriers.

Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com