What would you do if someone told you that you are entitled to a discount on your insurance premium and that by making an instant payment towards it, you will save 20 or even 30 per cent of the premium?
When colossal frauds amounting to crores are taking place, why would someone perpetrate a minor crime to the tune of a few grands? Well, these may be some of the questions that could perplex you, but some con artists are happy to fleece gullible investors without making them sound suspicious.
Something similar happened to one Gurugram-based policyholder, Udit Bhandari, who received a call from someone who claimed to be from ICICI Lombard.
The caller managed to win Bhandari’s trust when he shared the policy details. He informed Bhandari that since he had not claimed insurance in the past five years, he was eligible to receive a 20 per cent discount on the premium.
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And to claim the discount, Bhandari had to pay his premium immediately at a link that was sent via email and on WhatsApp.
Strangely, the website link did not work, but the UPI link sent on WhatsApp was active. This made Bhandari suspicious and he refused to make the payment. Thereafter, he shared his entire experience on ‘X’ platform.
Three key lessons one can draw from this episode:
1. No-claims bonus: First of all, it is vital to note that insurers typically offer no-claims bonus and do not urge policyholders to make immediate payment to claim a discount on premium. So, any random call from someone who claims to be an insurance company representative is more likely to be a fraud.
2. Payment link: Be extra careful of the link sent by an unknown person. Check the URL of the link and the email ID of the sender. In this case, the victim realised that the sender had sent the link from a parked domain: icicilombardrenewal.com. The insurer’s authentic domain is icicilombard.com.
Scamsters generally send emails from similar-sounding URLs or emails. But a little caution is enough to spot fraud. A parked domain refers to a domain that is registered but not yet connected to an online service such as a website or email hosting.
3. Say no to greed: Most scamsters manage to dupe investors and individuals only by alluring them with some benefits, cash rewards, discounts and extra income, so on and so forth.
If you follow the conventional route, such as calling customer care, the chances of you being duped would almost be nil. So, do not fall into the temptation of these unknown callers who tempt you either by the prospect of some savings or some extra income. If you are not greedy, you won’t buy any of the fraudsters’ stories.
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Published: 30 May 2024, 08:56 PM IST
