SMP Insure, an unlicensed brokerage in Thailand, has been sued by the country’s insurance regulator for insurance fraud, embezzlement, and document forgery.
The case alleges SMP defrauded complainants of a combined THB3 million (US$90,500).
Nine insurance companies and around 30 individuals were co-complainants against the brokerage.
According to a report by Thai newspaper
The Nation, Tanupat Rattanapulchai, deputy secretary-general of the Office of Insurance Commission (OIC), led the filing of the case. He said that the OIC received numerous complaints from individuals saying that SMP had called them, pitching motor insurance packages. The consumers that took up the offers and paid the premiums say they never received the policy papers from the carriers.
After confirming with the insurance companies, the victims reportedly learned that their policy purchases were never forwarded by the brokerage.
According to Tanupat, the OIC found that SMP had no license to sell insurance and that the firm used the logos of various insurers on their website, purportedly to boost its credibility in the eyes of the public.
Furthermore, two executives of SMP – known only by their first names Chanyuth and Waraporn – had their licenses to sell insurance revoked several months ago, the OIC said.
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