A telephone fraud scam continues to target consumers across Canada. The scam, which received wide publicity in November and December and was highlighted by the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), involves calls from fraudsters claiming to be from an insurance company. In some cases, the caller has claimed to be from Pilot Insurance or Aviva Pilot.

The fraudster requests a consumer immediately discloses financial information over the phone – such as a credit card number – to pay an outstanding insurance premium.

The caller then threatens to immediately cancel the policy if the information is not divulged.

It goes without saying, the insurance industry does not take part in such aggressive tactics. Accordingly, it is important that customers are aware of billing and cancellation practices of insurance companies and we encourage you to always ensure this is part of your regular consultation process.

Aviva’s approach to overdue premiums on an active policy is to notify the customer by letter. We do not demand financial information over the phone with the threat of an immediate cancellation.

If any customers call your office to report such activity, please ensure they document as much information about the call as possible, and then call police and the IBC Tips Line at 1-877-IBC-TIPS.

If they inform you the fraud is related to the Aviva family of companies, please let us know as well by contacting your business development team or our ombudsman office (416-615-3634 or toll-free 1-800-387-4518 extension 43634).