Colorado authorities warned today that Coloradans may be the target of a scam in which a person seeking personal banking information identifies himself as being from the “Colorado Insurance Commission.”
There is no “Colorado Insurance Commission.” There is a Colorado Division of Insurance, which put out the alert.
According to Marianne Goodland, spokeswoman for the division, a resident of Fort Collins was called on Tuesday by the caller who said the state had taken over the consumer’s insurance company.
The caller claimed the state of Colorado had sent the consumer a check for $399 to refund copays, but the check was returned by the U.S. Post Office.
The caller then said he could direct-deposit the check into the consumer’s banking account if the consumer would provide the account information.
Fort Collins resident Kathy Mahaffey, a longtime real estate agent in Fort Collins, was the person who received the call.
Mahaffey said the man, who knew her name, her husband’s name and home address, was aggressive even though he claimed to be from a state agency and said he was trying to refund her money.
Mahaffey said she and her husband have had the same insurance company for years and knew that the state hadn’t taken it over.
She said the man – who was older – became quite upset when she said she had neither a bank or savings account and when she asked him to send her a cashier’s check.
She said the man was quite irritated when he hung up.
Mahaffey contacted state authorities when she found out that the Denver telephone number the man had given her was bogus.
“The division wants consumers to know that division representatives never ask consumers for banking information, nor does anyone identify himself or herself as being with the ‘Colorado Insurance Commission’,” said Goodland.
Goodland said that anyone who has received such calls should contact local law enforcement.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter@HowardPankratz
