Drivers hit with online car insurance scam warning – don't fall to this 'tempting' offer

Customers could be urged to purchase cheap car insurance policies by scammers on social media which can lead to devastating consequences. The Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) has regularly warned motorists to avoid purchasing policies online which may be too good to be true after a rise in then ghost broking scam.

Ghost brokers appear as genuine insurance companies and offer discounted rates to vulnerable people and students.

However, these policies are often false which means motorists are evading the law without any cover at all.

Road users who have purchased a false policy could also be fined up to £300 by police officers and receive up to six penalty points on their driving licence.

Motorists could also see their vehicle seized or destroyed due to a recent DVLA crackdown on uninsured vehicles.

READ MORE: Criminals use fake car insurance to avoid police 

The IFB has also confirmed ghost broking is on the rise after a major increase in offences over the past four years.

The group revealed their number of live investigations has doubled over the period as more offenders take to the internet to claim victims.

A recent YouGov survey revealed one in five road users have seen suspicious car insurance adverts on social media.

The data revealed one in three of these were targeted to the young and vulnerable 18-24 audience who will wish to save money.

Stephen Dalton, Head of Intelligence and Investigation at the IFB said: “Think before you act – an enticing offer might seem like a great way to save money but the reality is if you don’t do basic checks to know that you’re buying car insurance from a genuine Broker, your ‘policy’ may be worth no more than the paper it’s written on.”

Ghost Broking comes in two forms and motorists can be caught out by either scam over the festive period.

Policies may be brought from legitimate insurance companies using false information and then changed before being passed onto consumers.

This is invalid because car insurance companies must judge each motorist based on certain factors such as where they live and their job before providing an average premium price.

Ghost brokers may also try and hand over fake policy documents to customers which are created to look like the real thing.

In these cases, a car insurance company will not even have you as a customer of the company and will refuse to pay for claims in the event of an accident.

The Insurance Fraud Bureau says the only way morass can be sure of buying a valid agreement is to check whether a broker is registered with the British Insurers Brokers’ Association.
Policy cover purchased directly from an insurance company should also be registered with age Motor Insurers’ Bureau.

Despite the warning, the recent YouGov poll revealed just one-third of motorists would check whether a seller had a legitimate website, phone number or address before purchasing cover.

A total of 32 percent also revealed that were unaware how to check whether they were being offered valid insurance as a massive 95 percent said they had never heard of the term “ghost broking”.

source: express.co.uk