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Fraud Awareness Guide For Policyholders

Overview

Insurance fraud affects everyone.  It increases premiums, slows down legitimate claims and puts customers at risk.  This guide helps you recognise common fraud tactics, protect your personal information and understand how to report suspicious activity.

What Insurance Fraud looks like

Phishing and Impersonation Scams

  • Fraudsters pretend to be from your insurance company and send credible looking messages with a web link or attachment.  They may contain spelling or grammar errors;
  • They often request personal details, payment information or claim updates;
  • They may use software to hack your computer to access personal information;  Fraudsters can also combine public information, particularly from social media, such as your address and date of birth with personal details such as your first school, favourite band or pet’s names to calculate passwords;
  • These messages may come through email, text or phone calls.

Ghost Brokers

  • Criminals selling fake insurance policies at discounted prices;
  • Victims only discover the fraud when they try to make a claim.

Identify Theft

  • Using stolen personal information to open or modify insurance policies.

Investment scams

Fraudsters flood the internet with worthless, overpriced or fake investments and trick people into making payments for products that do not exist.  This is how they work:

  • Someone contacts you out of the blue with an ‘opportunity’;
  • Fraudsters impersonate insurance/financial services employees and ask people to make payments for investments;
  • They contact the customer or non-customer through the post, social media, text, Whats App or email.  Scam emails can look like they are legitimate but come from fake email addresses;
  • They promote an investment opening which promises guaranteed high returns that are often too good to be true;
  • They might ask you to send money to other countries to make the scam harder for genuine providers to detect;
  • Fraudsters get you to send personal documents to give them more control;
  • They set up fake websites and create marketing literature that look professional enough to seem genuine.  Brochures may contain fake signatures and real photos of insurance/financial services employees; and
  • They often pressure you into acting quickly by saying there is a time limit for applying.

Romance scams

This is when fraudsters target potentially vulnerable people online.  This is how they operate:

  • Criminals set up fake profiles on dating sites or social media and start ‘relationships’ with victims who think they are talking to a real person.  They build trust often over months of online chatting and even phone calls;
  • There is usually a believable reason why they cannot meet in person.  They then play on the victim’s emotions to trick them into sending money for reasons such as they:
    • Are not in the UK and need money for travel to visit you;
    • Have a sick relative who needs medical care;
    • Have a business problem and need a loan to tide them over; or
    • Are waiting for an inheritance but need funds to access their money.

How to Protect Yourself

Staying alert helps protect not only your own policy but the entire customer community.  By recognising warning signs and reporting concerns early you help keep premiums fair and enable genuine claims to be handled quickly.

Verify Communications

  • Always check that emails, calls or texts are from official company channels.  Look out for suspicious emails and texts with links and/or attachments from what appears to be a plausible financial institution.  Do not open any links or attachments;
  • Look for correct spelling, branding and contact details.

Guard Your Personal Information

  • Never give out any personal details.  No legitimate company will ask for such information.  If you are suspicious, ask for the caller’s credentials.  Hang up and call the company back using a telephone number from their website;
  • Password protect devices to stop others from accessing your phone or tablet;
  • Use strong, unique passwords for online policies;
  • Do not share personal information on social media;
  • Shred personal documents and tear up receipts before recycling or disposing of them; and
  • If moving home, sign up to Royal Mail’s mail direction service for at least 6 months.

Be cautious of deals that seem too good to be true

  • Extremely low premiums, potentially unrealistic investment returns or pressure to buy quickly can be signs of a scam.

Reporting Suspicious Activity

If you notice anything unusual or believe you have been targeted by fraudsters in relation to your policy:

  • Please contact us immediately;
  • Provide as much detail as possible (dates, messages, names etc.).

Key Takeaways

  • Fraud can happen to anyone;
  • Verify all communications;
  • Protect your personal information; and
  • Report anything suspicious right away.