They keep increasing online insurance scams in Italy. But what is the dynamic? And how can we defend ourselves? “These insurance scams – comments Emanuele Anzaghi, vice president of Segugio.it with time.news / Labitalia – are causing a lot of damage to consumers and individuals who operate lawfully online, with the risk of increasing the number of vehicles circulating uninsured on our roads, already consistent and at risk of increasing due to the economic effects of the pandemic “.
“We – he assures – constantly monitor the advertisements on search engines and, in the case of subjects with evident fraudulent intentions, we proceed to report them or report them so that these advertisements are eliminated as soon as possible and the sites are made unreachable. I also hope that the new mystery shopping program announced by Ivass in recent days, consisting of incognito visits to websites aimed at evaluating the market conduct that intermediaries hold towards policyholders, constitutes a further barrier to consumer protection “.
Scammers first build one or more websites, which typically have certain characteristics.
– They are extremely sparse: they typically consist of a handful of pages (often just the main page or ‘homepage’ and a contact page, rarely a couple of other pages).
– Sometimes they recall the name, logo, images or other distinctive elements of insurance operators known to the general public (whether they are insurance companies or intermediaries / comparators).
– The contact channels offered are typically a mobile phone number (often with an invitation to use a fast messaging system), an email address provided by a free mail provider and, more rarely, a landline number (typically not in function).
– On the main page reference is often made to temporary policies and directly on the main page the personal and contact data of the consumer (name and surname, date of birth, telephone, email) and the vehicle license plate are requested. Sometimes the brand and model of the vehicle, the effective date of the policy or other data are also requested.
Sites of this type, recently built and lacking credibility and content, would be substantially unreachable and not harmful to the final consumer, given that search engines base their ordering criteria on the reputation of the site itself and would therefore list them, in the best possible way. assumptions, after hundreds of more credible search results.
And here the main step of the scam is triggered: the scammers buy advertising spaces on search engines, which are positioned in the first positions, bypassing the unpaid results of authoritative operators who legally operate in the sector. For example, suppose the consumer types into the search engine ‘alpha car insurance’, where alpha is the name of a well-known insurance company. The search engine will show the results, with the first positions (typically identified by the written ad) occupied by advertisements including those of scammers.
Once finished on the scammer’s site and provided their data, the consumer will then be contacted by the scammer, typically by a mobile number or through a messaging service, who will pretend to be a telephone consultant or alpha intermediary. Through the plate and other data provided by the customer, the scammer will also be able, by accessing various databases or public sources, to have an indicative idea of the price that the insured should pay and, consequently, to offer the consumer a plausible ‘discounted price’, very inviting but not to the point of making him suspicious.
Any documents will typically be requested from the customer via the messaging system and, always using the same channel, the quote, the payment details, often referring to non-traceable payment systems such as prepaid / rechargeable cards, and finally the counterfeit policy will be provided; When the consumer realizes that he has been scammed, unfortunately sometimes in the event of an accident or control by the police, he will file a complaint, often pulling in alpha and, after the investigation of the case, the site will be included in the list of fraudulent sites and rendered inoperative. But in the meantime, the scammers will already be operating with other websites.
To avoid running into these scams, you need to be vigilant and critical of the site you land on starting from the search engine. We must also be wary in particular of sites that offer a mobile number as a contact or invite you to use a fast messaging system. A professional insurance operator will never propose to a customer to contact him on a mobile phone in the first place, nor on Whatsapp or Telegram. Also, do not trust if an email provided by a free provider is used. For example, if you interact with the alpha company or intermediary, the email must be similar to [email protected] or [email protected] and not [email protected] or [email protected]. In fact, a medium-large company uses its own email domain that it can control and manage.
We must also be wary of sites consisting of a few pages, with ‘under construction’ pages, without sections dedicated to privacy, conditions of use, contents and sector articles; or who offer temporary policies and ask for their contact details on the main page. If you have any doubts, suggests Segugio.it, you have to take a step back and search again, possibly identifying the first link not identified as an ‘ad’: that is generally the ‘real’ site you are looking for. Never use messaging systems to send or receive documents or quotes, let alone payment instructions.
Payments must not be made in favor of rechargeable credit cards or other non-traceable payment systems. Paying an insurance premium by reloading a credit card, perhaps at the post office or at a tobacconist, is prohibited by law. If there are any doubts, before paying, check on the Ivass website if the insurance company or the intermediary is registered in the appropriate lists or registers, consult the list of notices relating to cases of counterfeiting, unauthorized companies and non-authorized websites. compliant with the regulations on brokering or call the Ivass consumer contact center: 800.48.66.61.