Protecting yourself against life insurance fraud is possible. There have been incidents of unscrupulous individuals preying upon the impending death of a stranger and fake their way through obtaining a life insurance policy on the stranger.
An anonymous consumer, whose brother recently died, wrote to Bankrate expert Don Taylor, saying that a life insurance policy was taken out on the brother just one month before he died. Because of this, she writes, social security refused to pay off the brother’s incurred medical bills. The surviving family, thus, were left in financial straits.
Taylor said that these facts make fraud a distinct possibility in this case, recommending that all of the relevant details be reported to state regulators and to the insurance company. Protecting yourself against life insurance fraud could begin with legal action to recover the death benefit, noted Taylor.
The FBI offers a list of common fraud schemes to help people avoid being victims. Basic tips to help in any scenario are as follows:
- Never sign blank insurance forms
- Get the names and extensions of customer service representatives and call back to verify their reality
- Investigate the reputation of the company
- Get a physical address
- Check e-mail addresses, send a response to make sure it is valid
- Websites can be deceiving so it is not the best to measure validity
- Check out the security encryption on the website
- Be careful of companies outside of your country
- Guard account information carefully
- Do not invest or purchase anything unless you understand the ins and outs
- Be wary of any opportunity that seems too good
In order to avoid becoming a victim of fraud, insurance experts suggest keeping track of all life insurance policies and updating your will when there is a serious life change. Protecting yourself against life insurance fraud will be worthwhile in the end to your surviving loved ones.