Preventing Life Insurance Identity Theft Scams

Ensuring that you are protected against identity theft is one of the most important things you can do when dealing with anything that requires you to disclose your personal information. Identity theft can allow someone to open and charge up credit cards in your name, as well as apply for loans, insurance, and much more, leaving you in ruins when your credit gets hit.

While there are many ways that identity theft can occur, life insurance identity theft scams are among the most costly. These scams work when an identity thief approaches their victim either in person, via email, or by phone. They coerce information out of the victim with one of the following schemes.

Claiming that a relative has passed away and that their life insurance policy has left money to you. You just need to confirm your social security number.
Saying your life insurance policy payment is overdue and they just need a credit card number to process a payment.
Claiming your policy has changed or been canceled and that you need to confirm your identity to fix it.

When you get contacted this way, it is up to you to determine if it is a legitimate contact or an identity thief trying to get information. There are a few simple things that you can do to help you figure out how legitimate the contact is before you release personal information.

Ask for details about the caller. A legitimate company making the call will be able to tell you without hesitation what company they work for, contact information and where they are located. They will not be put off by a request to call them back after verifying the company.
Ask for details about the policy in question. If a legitimate company is calling about a deceased relative for example, they will be able to answer questions such as when and where the policy was created, and the background of the relative.
If the contact comes via letter, email or fax, verify the return contact information. Faxes can be verified with a reverse fax number lookup. Emails can be checked for the IP address. This is especially important if the email does not appear to come directly from an insurance company.

While it is good to follow these practices to help protect your identity, it is also important to make sure you are aware of any policies your name may be on and the contact information of the company and its representative for the policy. Protecting yourself and your family is, after all, your number one priority when it comes to life insurance policies.

At Fleming & Riles Insurance, we know and understand the difficulties in finding the best life insurance policy. Call us at (800) 833-4379 today for more information about Georgia life insurance.

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