Officers at the "Borgo Ognina" police station in Catania have reported two men, aged 57 and 29, residents of Naples, to the judicial authorities for fraud. In 2023, the victim, a 73-year-old woman, needed to purchase car insurance and decided to use a search engine specializing in finding the best rate, entering her personal details, phone number, and all the required vehicle information.
After a few hours, she was contacted by telephone through a mobile number by a self-styled agent of a well-known insurance company who proposed taking out a bill at a particularly advantageous annual price. The woman, tempted by the offer, sent the fake agent, via a popular messaging platform, a copy of her car's registration document and her identity card, and made the payment via bank transfer to the IBAN provided.
A few hours later, she received the insurance policy on the same messaging platform and by email. The following year, as the policy was approaching its expiration date, the woman contacted the insurance company directly through the number on their website, requesting a new renewal quote. Upon realizing that the new quote had practically tripled the price from the previous year, she asked for clarification.
The insurance company, after conducting its due diligence, informed the woman that no insurance policy had been purchased for the previous year. At that point, she realized she had been defrauded and contacted the officers at the Borgo Ognina Police Station, where she filed a complaint against unknown persons. The officers immediately began an investigation and, through analysis of telephone traffic and bank accounts, were able to definitively identify the scammers. Specifically, they identified two men residing in Naples, who specialized in this type of crime and had several criminal records for fraud and other property crimes.
To avoid falling victim to insurance fraud, police explain, it is important to be wary of websites that don't provide certain information, such as the name, registered office, and VAT number of the insurance company, as well as any insurance agents who can only be contacted via cell phone or messaging platforms and cannot be reached via a landline call center. To prevent scams, it is helpful to consult the website of the IVSS (Institute for Insurance Supervision), which lists all insurance companies authorized to operate in Italy.
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