Gurgaon: Fraudsters posing as executives of an insurance firm have allegedly duped about 30 people of nearly Rs 2.4 crore on the pretext of renewal of policies.
Police said the conmen used to contact existing customers of IFFCO-Tokio General Insurance Company Limited and persuade them to “renew” their insurance policies at discounted prices. They allegedly created and used a fake email address similar to but not associated with the firm — sales@iffcotokio.org.in — and also forged its logo and letterhead. After receiving the money, they used to stop attending the customers’ calls.
The matter came to light when the cheated customers approached the company after their policies weren’t renewed.
Police said the fraudsters used to contact customers via phone calls and WhatApp messages. They also shared fabricated quotations on policy renewal with the fake logo along with bank account details, to which the customers made payments.
After collecting the premium amount through e-wallet and several bank accounts in Assam and West Bengal, the imposters also issued fake policy numbers and documents mentioning the original address of the company.
“Customers have shared forged quotations and policy renewal notices they received, which have forged logos of IFFCO-Tokio, as well as proof of payment made to bank accounts,” Arun Pandey, vice president of IFFCO-Tokio, told police.
Till now, the company has received complaints from around 30 customers, of which in 10 cases the customers had sought renewal of insurance and visited the company website as fresh customers, and their leads were automatically sent in real time to its outbound call centre. In 17 cases, the complainants visited the website for renewal as existing customers and therefore, no lead was sent to the call centres. Around four cases appear to be of fresh customers.
Police filed an FIR against the fraudsters, who are yet to be identified, under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC and Section 66D (cheating by using computer resource) of the IT Act at Cyber police station on Tuesday. “Our cyber team is trying to track them,” said police spokesperson Subhash Boken.