Shakespeare Martineau - Insurance Claim Scam?

PowerHandle

Last week an elderly relative received a letter purporting to be from Shakespeare Martineau LLP, regarding a car insurance claim. The elderly relative hasn't had a car accident, hasn't been to the city where the accident has been claimed to have taken place for several years and neither of the car makes/models/registrations involved match her car. I called them from a withheld number to try and ascertain some more details as well as to inform them there had been no such incident involving my relative, I didn't provide any details beyond first name (surname does not match). They tried getting more information but I terminated the call. 

Today I received an answerphone message from the same company, asking me to call them regarding the incident. I deleted the message straight away.

I don't understand how they have my phone number? I called them from a withheld number. Is it likely that this company are trying to scam my relative, or are they legit? The phone numbers they have called from check out as being the same Shakespeare Martineau's website.

Thanks

[Deleted User]

It won't be a scam.

It may be a case of incorrect details.

Manxman_in_exile

Your elderly relative needs to pass this onto his or her insurers to deal with ASAP.  Neither you nor your relative should be contacting Shakespeare Martineau - except to tell them that their letter has been passed onto their insurer.

Explain to the insurer that the "claim" obviously does not match the details of your relative's car.

You might want to ahev the post moved to the Motoring board.

DCFC79

They are legit, Ive used them in the past.

I suspect an error has been made but as to how they have your number I dont know.

Ergates

If you phone them up and don't provide any details beyond a first name they're not going to tell you anything.

The most likely way they got your number is that it wasn't as withheld as you thought it was.

The quickest way to get to the bottom of it would be to speak to them on the phone - don't hang up as soon as they start asking reasonable questions.

Ath_Wat

So you called them back and mentioned the case then as soon as they asked who you were, you hung up?

Then when they tried to return your call you ignored the answerphone message.

I imagine all that will do is convince them that they do have the right person and you have something to hide.

Manxman_in_exile

Ath_Wat said:

So you called them back and mentioned the case then as soon as they asked who you were, you hung up?

Then when they tried to return your call you ignored the answerphone message.

I imagine all that will do is convince them that they do have the right person and you have something to hide.

              

PowerHandle

Ath_Wat said:

So you called them back and mentioned the case then as soon as they asked who you were, you hung up?

Then when they tried to return your call you ignored the answerphone message.

I imagine all that will do is convince them that they do have the right person and you have something to hide.

Given the amount of scams around these days, why would I voluntarily give any information? As I said, firstly I need to establish whether this is a scam or not. A letter from a strange company referring to an incident for which you have no knowledge involving vehicles you don't own in a city 100 miles away appears though the post - are you really going to voluntarily and freely give them more information? As it appears that the company are legitimate, then we will move to the next stage of how to handle this. Given that the letter sent by SM does not in any way mention involving my relative's insurers, can you now see why we are treating this with suspicion and are taking steps to be careful, including not giving any more details than absolutely necessary? Also, I didn't 'hang up as soon as they asked who I was', I explained that the letter concerned an incident that my relative has no knowledge of and was not involved with. I stated I did not wish to give personal information to an unknown company because of the risk of scams. I terminated the call once this had been explained and agreed with the call handler. 

Manxman_in_exile said:

Your elderly relative needs to pass this onto his or her insurers to deal with ASAP.  Neither you nor your relative should be contacting Shakespeare Martineau - except to tell them that their letter has been passed onto their insurer.

Explain to the insurer that the "claim" obviously does not match the details of your relative's car.

You might want to ahev the post moved to the Motoring board.

Thanks for this, next time I see them I will advise them to do so. The letter itself does ask for them to contact Shakespeare Martineau immediately to discuss the case rather than going through the insurers, which I thought seemed rather suspect.