A caller claims your old LIC or insurance policy has lapsed and offers a refund
A caller pretends to be from IRDAI, LIC, or your insurance company. They say a policy you forgot about has matured or lapsed, and a large refund of ₹3 lakh-₹10 lakh is waiting. To claim it, you must pay GST, processing fees, or "stamp duty" upfront.
Also known as: lapsed policy refund scam, IRDAI refund call, insurance maturity payout fraud
What to do right now
- 1 Hang up. IRDAI and the LIC central office never call you to release a refund. Real maturity payouts go to your registered bank account automatically
- 2 Look up your insurance company's official customer-care number on their website or your physical policy bond and call them directly to check
- 3 If you have already paid fees, stop paying. The 'last fee' never ends. Do not wire more money hoping to recover
- 4 Call your bank's fraud line to report the transactions and attempt a reversal
- 5 Report at https://cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930 (national cyber helpline).
Red flags
- ⚠ Caller knows your name, an old address, and sometimes an old (real) policy number — bought from a data leak
- ⚠ Promised refund is large (₹3,00,000 to ₹10,00,000) and grows with each call
- ⚠ You are asked to pay GST, processing fee, stamp duty, or 'TDS unlock' before the refund is released
- ⚠ IRDAI never calls policyholders. They do not handle individual refunds — your insurer does
- ⚠ Each fee leads to another ('one more payment to release the funds') — the classic advance-fee pattern
This scam targets older adults disproportionately, often using data from real policy databases that have leaked over the years. The caller’s knowledge of your old policy makes them feel credible — but knowing your number is not the same as being from your insurer.
A real refund (whether from a matured policy, lapsed-policy surrender, or any other source) does not require you to pay fees in advance. Tax and stamp duty are deducted from the payout, not collected upfront. Any caller asking you to pay first to “unlock” a refund is running this scam.
If you have already paid: stop paying. Each new fee is the scam’s way of harvesting more. Call your bank’s fraud line, freeze your debit card, and file at cybercrime.gov.in and call 1930.