Hyderabad: Fraudsters have started cheating people claiming to be officials from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India and are collecting money from them.
The crooks contact the victims on the phone stating that their lapsed insurance policies and attached bonus money is revivable. In the guise of helping customers they ask the victims to claim the amount by taking another insurance policy for a short period. The crooks ask their victims to deposit money into their accounts as processing fee, etc and dupe them.

Police said the crooks contact ignorant people on their mobile phones stating that their lapsed insurance policy and attached bonus money are revivable and are lying idle with the IRDA’s office at Mumbai. They say that it is ready to be settled. Hyderabad Cyber Crime officials said the crooks suggest that for claiming the money they have to take another insurance policy for a short period and within a month they can encash their policies and get back their idle money.

“The callers dupe victims with their sweet talk and convince them. Believing the crooks the victims take new insurance policies worth Rs 1 lakh or so from various insurance companies,” said a Cyber Crime Police Station official. The callers ask the policy holders to deposit money in the accounts of the crooks for quick/fast processing, tax deduction etc.

“The amount deposited is immediately withdrawn and after that there is no response. After losing lakhs and contacting the actual insurance company, the victims come to know that they were duped. The amount deposited ranges from thousands to lakhs. In some cases the customers hesitate and escape the crooks,” the official said. Cyber Crime police said about half a dozen such cases have been reported in the recent past. Police has warned people to be on guard against such calls.