Imagine receiving about six letters on a daily basis for supposed car insurance you have no intention of getting. That was the unfortunate scenario Shafiq Ali of Mackworth, Derby, has had to face in an apparent case of ‘ghost broking’.
The UK’s Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) said ghost brokers are fraudsters who sell drivers cheap motor insurance deals but issue policies that aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. According to a report by the Derby Telegraph, ghost brokers may use some of the drivers’ correct details but often falsify information like age or address to benefit from lower premiums.
The IFB said policies are bought from legitimate insurance companies using false information and then doctored before being sold on to customers. Another way scammers go about their schemes is by creating fake policy documents designed to look like they have been issued by legitimate insurers and then selling them on to customers.
In Ali’s case, the report said the victim was sent a total of 121 letters for car insurance policies he had not taken out. It noted that each letter was for a different person, with sender
Churchill Insurance launching an investigation and confirming that Ali’s address had been compromised.
A spokesperson for the insurer was quoted as saying, “Our counter-fraud team have investigated and Mr Ali appears to be the victim of ghost-broking, a serious crime which causes distress for those living at the addresses used to set up these fake policies.”
Ali, who complained to Churchill about the six or seven letters that came in every day, said, “I have no idea how or why my home is being used by fraudsters, I’m very careful with my details.”
The IFB has described ghost broking as an extremely complex scam.
Related stories:
Police issue warning about fake social media insurance brokers
Two Britons arrested by Spanish police over insurance fraud
%20(1).jpg)
