When was the last time you read the fine print of your vehicle insurance? Probably never like most of the insurance buyers. Well, this will make you sit up and pay attention, as Delhi Police cracked an online vehicle insurance scam that issued over 80,000 policies. Times of India reported that according to the Crime Branch, the insurance portal duped twowheeler owners by overcharging them for highercategory vehicles like threewheelers and fourwheelers. During an internal audit, the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) came across discrepancies in data and began to send notices to the insurance company.
Currently, the Crime Branch is investigating this fraud, but it’s understood that the scamsters hacked into the insurance website. They manipulated the entire portal and its menu options and inflated the premiums of the policies. MACT uncovered that at least 5,000 vehicles in Delhi received fake insurances, which have all been scrapped now and have been termed illegal.
Speaking to the insurance company’s representative, Times of India reported the fraudsters completely altered the client information, the vehicle categories and the contact details. They began by collecting vehicle policy details from all over the country, manipulating the information and then selling fake insurance on legit companies’ websites.
They changed the entire insurance premium cost and the vehicle categories, as they sold customers three and fourwheeler policies to twowheeler clients.
In an internal audit, the insurance realised that the data didn’t add up, especially when it came to thirdparty claims. These claims were filed in MACT courts all over the country. It revealed that the fraudsters had created numerous fake email IDs, phone numbers and addresses to issue the policies. In reality, there were only 14 genuine insurance plans with authentic contact details, and the rest were all fake. The insurance company revealed that 80,014 fake policies were issued from 2022 to 2023.
The company representative said that the internal audit uncovered that 74% of the policies were bought online, including UPI, online banking and credit cards. The case has been registered, and the Delhi Police Crime Branch is investigating this scam.
