Jordan: Police deter gang attacks on insurance firms
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Apr 2015
Attacks on insurance establishments and their personnel have fallen to zero following the signing of an agreement between the Jordan Insurance Federation (JOIF) and the police almost three years ago.
“Attacks by gangs against insurance entities stopped completely in the past two and a half years, thanks to our annual agreement with the Public Security Department (PSD),” JOIF Secretary General Maher Al-Hussein told The Jordan Times.
In August 2012, JOIF signed an agreement with the PSD to station two of its personnel and two members of the Preventive Security Department outside every insurance firm. The agreement sees police officers patrol areas where insurance firms are located, while the insurers pay for the security needed because the gangs sought to make fraudulent claims and to force the insurance companies to pay them money.
“Many entities were attacked by these gangs if they refused to pay such claims and some of the companies’ directors and their families received death threats,” Mr Al-Hussein said.
The gangs had staged car accidents in order to collect fraudulent insurance claims, then attacked the firms and their employees to intimidate them into paying these claims. The frequent attacks forced several auto insurers out of business, according to JOIF officials.
Previously, the situation had been so bad that in August 2012, the insurance sector went on strike to pressure the government to take action.