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2021-05-28
By: Advocate Brokerage
In February we shared information about the cyber fraud that was occurring in the instant online insurance quote world. This particular cyber theft campaign which was revealed in late December 2020 and early January 2021, allowed hackers to steal nonpublic information in order to obtain pandemic-related benefits such as unemployment. The reports revealed two auto insurers that provide instant online quotes for Auto Insurance. You can read our original blog here.
Some of our clients, including yours truly, received a GEICO auto insurance policy, taken out by someone impersonating me (using my name). This also has happened with Progressive and perhaps with other direct writers. In my case, they paid for the GEICO policy with a check. At the time, I couldn’t imagine what the perpetrator gained out of this activity. At the time, I also didn’t know that their check had bounced. Recently, Jeffrey Koslowsky researched this matter and sent an email explaining the purpose of the scheme. It was a back-door way to get personal data from the GEICO system, in order to fraudulently apply for unemployment benefits.
I am sharing this story, so that any of our clients who have been the victim(s) of this fraud, are made keenly aware that no data came from our office and to let you know that cybercrime can happen to anyone.
-Roz Binday
We feel it is important to share our knowledge and experiences with our clients. We hope that reading about Roz’s experience will give you some insight as to how widespread this particular security breach was and that cybercrime can happen to anyone.
Geico recently sent out a notice to customers informing them that a security flaw had allowed cybercriminals to copy the personally identifiable information; including drivers’ license numbers of approximately 132,000 customers and that the perpetrators had begun to use the stolen information. You can read more about the cyber breach in the articles below.
Many of our preferred carrier partners have added cyber coverage as part of their personal insurance offerings. Both PURE and Chubb have cybersecurity and fraud policies that could make a nice addition to your insurance portfolio. If you would like more information on these types of coverage, we can help.
We also wanted to assure you that if you have been victim to this particular cybercrime, Advocate Brokerage in no way, accidentally or otherwise, contributed to this security flaw. As always, if you have questions or concerns about anything relating to your insurance, we encourage you to please give us a call! We are here for you
