Insurance Consultants of Maine Newsletter
Scott Simmonds, CPCU
August, 2004
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
You're getting this newsletter because you have subscribed, attended one of our Tele-Seminars or have requested one of our ebooks. Feel free to forward this newsletter to your colleagues. Your comments, questions and suggestions are always welcome. Email: scott@icofmaine.com

Motor Vehicle Accident Causes Pollution - Most commercial auto policies exclude coverage for liability arising out of pollution from an auto accident unless the pollutant is the gas, oil or other “engine” type fluid used by your vehicle. If you haul pollutants (or your product could pollute in a roll-over) work with your agent to get the correct environmental liability coverage.

It's a good rule of thumb to use -- standard insurance policies exclude pollution - auto policies, liability policies, directors & officers, property policies and professional liability policies. If you need pollution coverage you need to consider special environmental liability insurance.

Email Fraud - We've all been warned never to give credit card info to people who call us. A caller asking to verify your credit card info should be met with the sound of you hanging up. The same holds true of emails. If you get an email from a bank, credit card company, eBay, Amazon, PayPal of online service that asks for you to verify account information be very skeptical.

Here's an email a friend recently received:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: "eBay.com"
To: "xxxxx"
Subject: Your Account at eBay has been suspended
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 20:07:13 +0900

Dear eBay User,

We regret to inform you, that we had to block your eBay account
because we have been notified that your account may have been compromised by outside parties.

Our terms and conditions you agreed to state that your account must always be under your control
or those you designate at all times. We have noticed some activity related to your account that
indicates that other parties may have access and or control of your information in your account.

Please be aware that until we can verify your identity no further access to your account will be allowed. As a result,Your access to bid or buy on eBay has been restricted.To start using your eBay account fully,Please uptake and verify your information by clicking below

http://signin.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?Verify

Regards,

eBay Member Service

**Please Do Not Reply To This E-mail As You Will Not Receive A Reponse**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The original email included the eBay logo and other links to help and customer service. It certainly looked real!

Clues: Notice the grammar of the last sentence. Also, the word "response" is misspelled. Think eBay would make such mistakes?

The email seems to send you to the website: http://signin.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?Verify. (I've disabled the link so you can't mistakenly go to the bogus site.) In reality you're being sent to a site named rndsystems.co.kr. The “.kr” means that the host for the website is in Korea. Hmmm???!!!

If you complete the information on the bogus form your id and password will be in the hands of a criminals - they'll start buying things with your ID using someone else's credit card. They may even try to access your credit card info.

Email Fraud Rules:

--Never reply or log on to these emails. I've received similar emails that appeared to be from Citi Bank, Key Bank, PayPal and Amazon. If you want to help fight the problem, go to the real company website and find their fraud department. They'll ask you to forward the email to them for action.

--Don't use the same password for all websites.

--Don't use a password that can be guessed (phone number, social security number, your initials).

--Passwords should be at least 7 digits long and include both letters and numbers.

--Change your passwords frequently.

--Close accounts you don't use anymore.

--Be skeptical of anyone asking for your personal information.

 

Personal Insurance Tip -- Jewelry Limitations - Most homeowner insurance policies limit your coverage for theft of jewelry. A limitation of $1,000 is not uncommon. Ask your agent. In many cases you can increase the coverage or buy specific coverage on certain items - it's called a “floater” policy.

 

Attend My Tele-Seminars - Improve your understanding of insurance so you can make better decisions. Each session is one hour long. Classes are designed to provide solid information you can use right away to improve your insurance coverage and control your premiums. Go to www.icofmaine.com/seminars.html for a list of all seminars. In September we have two scheduled:

Insurance Trips & Traps For Consultants And Consulting Firms - September 7, 2004

Control Your Insurance Premiums By Managing Your Policy Renewal - September 14, 2004

 

Policy Management Tip - Set all of your insurance policies to expire at the same time. Renewals and renewal reviews will be easier. Don't pick January 1, April 1, July 1 or October 1 as the new expiration date. Insurance companies are very busy around those dates. You may not get the attention you deserve. Pick mid-month dates in February, May or November. You'll avoid the times when many underwriters are on vacation too. The idea is to be an important part of the underwriters work pile.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

20 Biggest Business Insurance Mistakes - Readers of this newsletter can receive a copy of my newest e-book, "The 20 Biggest Business Insurance Mistakes." Email me at scott@icofmaine.com and I'll send you a free copy. Downloads of this new e-book have already exceeded my two year old workers comp ebook. New York Times bestseller? Not a chance! I am getting great comments though. Many from insurance agents!

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
My List - You received this email because you either asked to be put on my list, you signed up for the list or you subscribed to one of my ebooks. I hate spam. I'm happy to remove you if you like. Use the remove feature at the bottom of this note.

Your Privacy - I will never sell or distribute your email address to any other person or organization.

Life Insurance - How secure is your life insurance? Do you have the right kind? Is the policy set up correctly? I can help. Call 207.284.0085 or email me at scott@icofmaine.com. Remember, I don't sell insurance so I'm unbiased.

Need A Speaker? I'm pleased to speak to trade, business or service associations about insurance topics. Call 207.284.0085 or email me at scott@icofmaine.com. Also check out my speaker's page at www.icofmaine.com/ispeaker.html.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
Scott Simmonds, CPCU
Insurance Consultants of Maine, Inc.
20 Sofia Road
Saco, ME 04072-9017
Phone 207 284-0085
Fax 801 991-4027
scott@icofmaine.com
http://www.icofmaine.com/

Unbiased Insurance Solutions
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Insurance Consultants of Maine, Inc. is an unbiased, fee-only insurance and risk management advisory firm. We don't sell insurance and never accept fees or commissions from insurance companies or agents.

Comments regarding insurance policies or products in this newsletter are for information purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement. We accept no fees or payments of any kind from any insurance organization or any company mentioned in this newsletter.

© 2004 Insurance Consultants of Maine, Inc. All Rights Reserved. We encourage sharing this newsletter in whole or in part if copyright and attribution (including my web address) are always included.