Life Insurance Scams
Life insurance policy or annuity investments are not nightmares! Is it so? With crooks preying on the elderly, no area of insurance is immune. Be wary of crafty insurance agents and companies who can fleece you.
How life insurance scam operates?
- Phony insurance: imitating the name of a legitimate insurance company, an agent or company will try to sell you phony insurance. Don't be deceived by a professional looking policy that's absolutely of no value. You could end up losing thousands of dollars.
- Stealing your premiums, insurance agents instead of transferring the premium amount to the insurer, transfer funds to their account sent by you.
- Churning is one more sneaky move in which an insurance agent offers you a policy that is
by all accounts better than your existing one. Unethical agents target naïve seniors. It often costs more and doesn't give any extra value, in some cases agents will inflate an applicant's net worth simply policy.
- Crooks monitor obituaries for potential targets: A stranger claiming to be a life-insurance agent calls you to inform your deceased spouse bought a life policy that's worth of so many thousand or million dollars. He/she wanted to be kept a secret. There is just one hitch or pitfall… the final premium payment is due and the policy is about to lapse, a final premium payment will help save the policy so that the insurer can disburse the maturity amount. They claim to wire the money to a specified account which is always untraceable. They will come up with convenient options to milk money from you by saying you can send cash or gift cards, or use a credit card to make the payment right on the phone. Attacking the spouses during a time of personal turmoil, the ruses take advantage ruthlessly. Beware of these bogus life insurers and policy that crop up when you may have let your guard down.
That being said, complaints raised about any life insurance company don't just belong only to flat out scams. It also includes bad advice that ends up bankrupting the client meaning canvassing insurance products that are not suitable is also included, badly chosen life insurance policy will demand more commissions and will bankrupt you completely.
Red flags
The potential large payout is the most tempting factor in life insurance; however it has become a tool in the hands of the unscrupulous. Here are some red flags related to life insurance you need to be aware ofIf you are being hustled to purchase junk insurance policies, beware!
Having said all that insurance fraudsters have their own missions, seeing that the volume and quality of the date they compile vary to a great extent, be on your guard as with anything related to insurance. Sometimes, it may exist in the form of annuity, there are different forms. In many cases, only after the perpetrator has skipped town with the loot, the victims are aware that they are being scammed. So, it is wise to be on your guard as you sign up for any life insurance policy, given that crooks are employing quite an impressive array of tactics.
If you are a victim of insurance scam, without any delay contact the appropriate law enforcement agencies--local, state and federal, these state departments have a fraud investigation unit that will counsel you.
