A private detective agency hired by Migdal Insurance has
uncovered the identity of a group of swindlers that tried to
defraud chareidi families through an offer to increase their
old insurance policies in order to receive greater profits.
Migdal then issued an official public warning and turned the
matter over to the police.
The first publicized warning appeared in the Hebrew edition
of Yated Ne'eman in the Kav Hacham consumer column,
when one Bnei Brak family nearly fell into their trap. After
the story appeared in print, other people who had met with
the same hucksters also contacted Kav Hacham. Some of the
potential victims managed to obtain the cell phone number of
one of them, which later helped in tracing their identity.
Yitzhak (Mushko) Raveh, director of supervision and security
at Migdal, told Yated Ne'eman that the investigation
revealed the swindlers posed as Migdal agents and used a
similar approach in all of the cases. They would tell
families that it had come to their attention that the
family's insurance policy was coming to an end within the
next few months, and would offer them a special insurance
plan that would increase their savings on risk insurance. In
order to take part in the plan the policy holders were asked
to invest tens of thousands of shekels. When interested
parties voiced suspicions, the swindlers quickly severed ties
with them, but some unknowing families were lured into the
scheme.
After insurance agent Yisroel Eliovitz contacted Yated
Ne'eman to obtain information on the incidents, Migdal
hired a detective agency to track them. At a certain stage,
the swindlers realized they had been found out and cut off
contact, but details about them were already known.
Raveh asks readers who fell into the trap to contact Migdal
to help prove the swindlers' guilt.
He warns the public not to trust unfamiliar insurance
salesmen or agents and not to sign any form or purchase an
unknown insurance product. Authorized agents are required to
carry a certificate from the Insurance Supervisors' Bureau.
"Our warning is intended to protect the public from
swindlers, in the hope the matter is taken care of and [such
incidents] are stopped," he says.
