/ 11 February 2008

Liberty Life, police probe premiums fraud

Durban police are investigating 10 cases of fraud linked to national insurance and investment giant Liberty Life.

All 10 cases were opened in the Durban area between December last year and January this year. Four of the cases were opened by staff from the Mahatma Gandhi hospital in Phoenix, north of Durban.

One of the complainants is a police officer and another is an employee with the provincial department of education.

It is alleged that 10 people had chunks of their salaries taken out of their bank accounts, seemingly by Liberty Life, for premiums they did not owe the company.

Eight of the 10 told police they had never met any Liberty Life brokers or signed any contracts with the company. Another two said they had met with Liberty Life brokers but had not signed any contracts or given any personal details to them.

Liberty Life has branches countrywide and specialises in life insurance, disability cover, medical cover, corporate insurance, savings and investment.

Police spokesperson Captain Thembeka Luthuli said the cases were serious. ”These people had not even taken out insurance with Liberty Life. One woman had R1 040 taken out of her account in one month,” she said.

Luthuli said police suspect that the perpetrators had ”somehow gotten a hold of the victims’ salary slips”.

”We believe this because the culprits had the victims’ banking details,” she said.

Through further investigations, police also established that the fraudsters had opened up further accounts for the victims with Liberty Life using their banking details but with incorrect addresses.

Luthuli said no arrests have been made at this stage, but police will start questioning people soon. ”We have three names on our list and we will be questioning them soon,” she said.

Fraud

One victim, working at the Mahatma Gandhi Hospital, spoke on condition of anonymity, saying she was really furious. ”I got paid at the end of January and when I checked my bank balance, about R500 was missing,” she said.

She said her bank statement reflected that the money had been debited by Liberty Life. ”I didn’t know what was going on because I don’t have any dealings with them,” she said.

The 36-year-old said R500 is a lot of money to her, as nurses are not paid well. ”When I contacted the Durban bureau of Liberty Life, I was told there was a syndicate operating in Durban using Liberty Life’s title.”

The mother of two said she was concerned that more money may be taken out of her account at the end of this month. ”If someone had access to my bank account, what’s going to stop them from debiting more money from my account … and who is going to repay me?” she asked.

Senior officials from Liberty Life’s Durban bureau, not wanting to be named, said they believe a syndicate of criminal brokers has been using Liberty Life’s name to commit the crime. Liberty Life’s management in Johannesburg confirmed it is aware of the cases and said it too is investigating the matter.

Clayton Thomopoulos, head of the fraud-prevention unit at Liberty Life, said the company views the matter in a serious light and has recently embarked on an extensive consumer-awareness campaign to alert the public to the issue of identity theft and fraud.

He said the cases will be fully investigated and that the clients will be contacted to obtain any outstanding information that could help resolve the issue.

”Liberty Life exercises a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and, as such, all allegations of this nature are investigated by a team of experienced and dedicated forensic investigators,” Thomopoulos said. ”Should any investigation identify fraud, then our policy is to accordingly prosecute those responsible.”

Any further allegations of fraud need to be reported to Liberty Life’s 24-hour toll-free hotline on 0800 204 557, Thomopoulos said. — Sapa