Fake insurance brokers selling faulty policies door to door
Motorists in Ireland have been warned that fake insurance brokers are going door to door selling fake policies. The scammers who operate with a laptop in hand, tell unwary motorists that they can offer massively discounted cover. However these policies are invalid as the phony brokers are unauthorized intentionally falsified details to insurance companies. It is understood that one of these fraudsters has been arrested but not before he sold over 100 dodgy policies in the greater Dublin area. In a recent trend these fake insurance brokers are charging people up to €300 and leaving them with no cover. These ‘insurance sharks’ are operating online, in pop up shops and by going door to door. These ghost brokers as they are known in the insurance industry are mostly targeting young drivers. However, given the recent trend of these fraudsters going door to door older people are now considerably more at risk. According to leading figures in the insurance industry the most brazen of these ghost brokers are regularly going door to door in order to sell policies to the most vulnerable.
Major insurer liberty has warned people to be wary individuals who are claiming to be brokers but who are not recognized as such by the central bank. These unscrupulous fake brokers take peoples insurance disks or documents as well as generating invalid policies from large insurance companies. The phony brokers operate by creating fake 5 or more year no claims bonuses in order to secure the lowest premiums for would be clients. They are effectively exploiting the fact that insurance premiums have been steadily increasing in the last 3 years with young drivers particularly feeling the pinch. Then these fraudsters who pose as legitimate middlemen claim they can offer the most competitive rates. Simultaneously these ghost brokers are completely unregulated and often operate from home addresses or using mobile phones. A spokeswoman for insurance giant liberty states “we have seen a massive increase in the number of ghost brokers, including one who provided in excess of 100 quotes to unsuspecting motorists”. She added that liberty and a number of other large insurance providers were aware of the ghost brokers trying to scam them. Although a spokesman from representative body insurance Ireland claimed that it was unaware of a widespread problem with ghost brokers.
Another insurance expert has claimed that the problem is in fact widespread. Jonathan Hehir of Coverinaclick.ie, said there is an emerging problem of unauthorized brokers claiming that they can get motorist heavily discounted cover. He added that fake brokers do this by falsifying a no claims bonus usually without the knowledge of the motorist. Drivers are under huge pressure due to the premiums which have been soaring for the last 2 and a half years but which dropped slightly in April.
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