Some consumers, looking for the best car insurance deal, may find out the hard way that the discount was too good to be true. Read on for why all drivers pay the price for fake insurance cards.<\/p>\n
‘THEY TRULY THOUGHT THEY WERE PURCHASING REAL INSURANCE’<\/p>\n
At Ann Nguyen\u2019s office in Arlington, the State Farm Insurance agent is getting calls from consumers with questions about insurance paperwork Nguyen didn\u2019t issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an example of one fraudulent insurance card that someone had sent us,\u201d Nguyen said of a digital card with a State Farm logo. \u201cSome of the formatting is off a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The card lists Nguyen\u2019s name as the agent, but she didn\u2019t issue the policy. It doesn\u2019t exist. Nguyen said the consumers believed they bought liability insurance but paid someone through an unofficial website or social media. Consumers often discover the policies weren\u2019t legitimate after a car crash or traffic stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey truly thought they were purchasing real insurance and it’s just very unfortunate,\u201d Nguyen said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just impacting Nguyen or State Farm. Across the board, the Texas Department of Insurance said there\u2019s an increase in fraud reports about fake insurance cards.<\/p>\n
In 2023, there were 38 reports to TDI. By 2025, the number climbed to 126. The TDI counted 37 fraud reports during the first three months of this year. A sign the problem isn\u2019t slowing down.<\/p>\n
SHOPPING VIA WORD-OF-MOUTH<\/p>\n
The day we interviewed Nguyen, she said another call came in from Lisa Hartman in Minnesota. Hartman said she\u2019s helping a consumer named Raul Manzano respond to a court summons after a traffic stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey thought that they had insurance that would cover these things and they don’t; it’s been horrible,\u201d Hartman told NBC 5 Responds.<\/p>\n
Manzano now has to go to court for possession of an invalid, altered or fictitious insurance ID card.<\/p>\n
In Spanish, Manzano told NBC 5 Responds he was looking for a cheaper policy when he paid $1,500 cash for what he thought was six months of car insurance coverage. Manzano said he didn\u2019t have a U.S. driver’s license and shopped through word-of-mouth. He said he paid someone who knew someone selling insurance.<\/p>\n
Manzano said he didn\u2019t notice that the proof of insurance document he received said Texas liability coverage \u2013 at least four states away from Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Hartman said they can\u2019t get in touch with the person Manzano paid. It\u2019s not clear where Manzano\u2019s money went.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a work permit and he’s trying to be here and do everything as legally as he can,\u201d said Hartman.<\/p>\n
In Texas, Nguyen said she\u2019s trying to gather information about who sold consumers the fake insurance, \u201cWho are you calling, where are you meeting these people?\u201d<\/p>\n
Nguyen said another consumer shared a phone number for a person they communicated with.<\/p>\n
Telemundo 39 Responde reporter Olivia Martinez and NBC 5 Responds reporter Diana Zoga tried texting and calling the number. We didn\u2019t hear back.<\/p>\n
RED FLAGS TO KNOW<\/p>\n
Nguyen said she\u2019s primarily hearing from immigrants who bought fake insurance cards.<\/p>\n
The TDI warns that anyone can be targeted.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon’t be rushed to buy insurance. If you see something on social media that says, ‘Hey, there’s a great deal today,’ insurance companies usually don’t have sales,\u201d said Mistie Hinote with the TDI.<\/p>\n
Hinote said this scam touches all drivers. If an uninsured driver hits you, you\u2019d have to file an uninsured motorist claim on your policy, assuming you have that coverage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s money out of the insurance company’s pocket and they’re going to pass that on to policyholders with increased premiums. So, we’re all seeing the effect of insurance fraud through our premiums,\u201d Hinote said.<\/p>\n
When shopping for insurance, the TDI said to make sure the person selling a policy is licensed in Texas. Verify the insurance company itself is legitimate. Consumers can call the TDI Help Line<\/a> at 800-252-3439 to ask. <\/p>\n Consumers can also report suspected fraud to the help line.<\/p>\n The TDI said consumers shouldn\u2019t pay premiums in cash or through a third-party payment app<\/a>. Real insurance companies may offer online payment, but it\u2019s through their official website or app. The TDI said scammers often rely on outside payment platforms.<\/p>\n Nguyen points to another red flag: anyone offering insurance with few questions asked.<\/p>\n \u201cThese scammers are probably not asking all the detailed questions or the in-depth questions that we would need to issue a legitimate policy,\u201d Nguyen said.<\/p>\n NBC 5 Responds is committed to researching your concerns and recovering your money. Our goal is to get you answers and, if possible, solutions and a resolution. Call us at 844-5RESPND (844-573-7763) or\u00a0fill out our customer complaint form<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some consumers, looking for the best car insurance deal, may find out the hard way that the discount…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,24054],"class_list":["post-272590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-nbc-5-responds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}