Tuesday 14 April 2020

Covid-19: LIC announces 30-day extension for premiums due in March and April

Tuesday 14 April 2020 - 0 Comments

Covid-19: LIC announces 30-day extension for premiums due in March and April

LIC's policyholders can pay premiums through LIC's digital payment options without any service charge
Premiums can also be paid by downloading mobile app LIC Pay Direct

Mumbai: Life Insurance Corporation on Saturday announced an extension of 30 days for payment of premium due in March and April 2020 to mitigate the hardships being faced by policyholders in the wake of COVID-19.

For February premiums, where grace period was expiring after March 22, relaxation is allowed up to April 15, LIC said in a statement here.

Further, it said wherever policies can be revived without any evidence of good health, this can also be done online.

LIC's policyholders can pay premiums through LIC's digital payment options without any service charge.

It also informed that policyholders do not need to register on the website for paying premium but can directly pay by giving basic details.

Premiums can also be paid by downloading mobile app LIC Pay Direct.

Policy premiums are accepted through Net banking, Debit Card, Credit Card and on payment apps such as Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay, BHIM, UPI among others.

Premiums can also be paid at all IDBI and Axis Bank branches and in cash through Common Service Centres (CSC), operating at block level.

The insurer assured its policyholders that the death claims arising due to COVID-19 will be treated at par with other causes of death and payments shall be made on an urgent basis.

Corona virus has already claimed many lives and efforts are being made by LIC officials to locate Covid-19 victims on the basis of lists provided by the government authorities to help the families.

Already death claims due to COVID-19 under 16 policies have been settled without losing any time, it added.

During the previous financial year, LIC has settled more than 7.5 lakh death claims with only 0.75 per cent of the total death claims reported remaining outstanding.

LIC has also ensured that policy payments like Survival Benefit, Policy Maturity and Annuities are made to policyholders on due date by crediting the amount into the bank account registered with LIC.

These payments were more than two crore in numbers in 2019-20.

Wednesday 19 November 2014

Common Facebook Scams You Need to Know About

Wednesday 19 November 2014 - 0 Comments

As the tree of Facebook is growing exponentially and making the world even smaller, it is also getting crowded with scrupulous hoaxes and scams. For an unaware user, it is difficult to tell these hoaxes from genuine Facebook posts or status updates. In this blog post we have outlined some of the most common scam and hoax posts that have been and are doing the rounds on the social network. If you come across any of these, be sure to delete them and advise your friends to do the same and avoid spreading them further.

#1. Shocking Video Posts

Just recently I came across a Facebook post that claimed to show a ‘shocking video’ of the biggest snake in the world. The post had a teaser image of a giant snake and a man, as you can see in the image below. Not only is the image a bad example of Photoshop, but the entire thing is a hoax designed to scam curious users. Clicking the video will take the user to a third party website (that may look like Facebook) and ask them to share the link publicly or complete a fake online survey before they can see the video. Even if the user does all that, they will never get to see the video, because there isn’t any.

#2. Your Favorite Celebrity Just Died Posts

If online scammers had their way, then all celebrities would have vanished from the face of the earth. Back in the month of August 2013, a hoax video on how Eminem got stabbed, went viral on Facebook. And just recently, Rihanna became a victim of fake celebrity death reports. Even these videos work in the same fashion as the ‘Shocking video’ scams.

#3. Fake Facebook App Scams

Orkut, the long-lost social media hero, allows its users to know who all visited their profile. Imagine the hoo-ha if such a feature comes into Facebook. The ‘Know Who Visited Your Profile App’ or ‘Facebook Profile Viewer App’ claims to do the same thing for Facebook users. Installing such apps will only drop a nasty malware on your system, and let attackers steal your profile information.

#4. Free! Free! Free!

Free giveaways are a classic example of social media scams that have stuck to Facebook like a bad stain. The word ‘Free’ is good enough to grab just anyone’s attention. And this is what scammers capitalize on. In exchange of some information (personal and otherwise) or downloading a software, the user will be eligible for the free goodies.

#5. Fake Virus Warning Posts

When the element of terror drops onto social networking sites such as Facebook, there is but fire all over the place! And one classic example of this are fake virus warnings. Most users take such warnings for real and share them with others, and end up promoting the scammer’s cause.

Social media platforms were created to bring people closer. There is nothing social about spreading unconfirmed news, viral posts, and scams. So, whenever you come across any shocking, terrifying, or unusual posts, confirm the same from other sources before you hit the ‘Like’ or ‘Share’ button. Stay safe!