The phenomenon of scams linked to false car insurance is gaining ground on the Net, here’s how to recognize them and how to defend yourself
Motorists who, in order to save money on car insurance, are “diving” into online insurance are becoming more and more popular. A trend known, however, also by hackers and cybercriminals, who try to take advantage of it with ad hoc scam attempts. On the Net, in fact, there are many fake insurances that try to cheat unsuspecting Internet users with bargain prices and offers too good to be true.
And, in fact, they are not true. They’re computer scam attempts that hackers make travel online through phishing emails or web ads. The offer, as mentioned, seems very beneficial and almost unobtainable. Too bad though that after sending them our money we will receive documents in return that have no legal value. Often, cyber criminals use names that are very similar to real insurance companies in order to create a relationship of trust with the consumer and entice him to trust them and send their money. For example, cyber security researchers discovered a fake online insurance company calling itself Quixa Assicurazioni, a name that mirrors that of Quixa, the Axa Group’s real online insurance company.
How to Recognize Fake Online Insurance
One of the first red flags when interacting with an online insurance company should be the methods by which insurance packages are offered to us. The fake Quixa, and like her most of the fake insurance companies, acted by contacting potential “customers”, or rather victims, with messages on social media or WhatsApp. The operators quickly described the advantages of their insurance and asked the user to email documents and payment receipts to complete the insurance process. This is a typical modus operandi of scams, in a real insurance company we should never send these documents without first receiving and evaluating a quote and a contract.
Secondly, before trusting an online insurance company we check the Net for opinions and feedback from other users. We then go to the insurance company’s website. Often hackers create virtually empty portals with only the name of the agency and contact details. If the website of an insurance company does not present quotes, packages and the history of the group we should be suspicious. If we have any kind of doubts we can verify with Ivass that it is not a scammer, even at the toll free number of the authority 800 486661. We then check that the insurance company has its head office address, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address and number and date of registration in the single register of intermediaries. If we can’t find this information we are probably interacting with a fake online insurance.