Oklahoma Fines Tennessee Company for Selling Fake Insurance

Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland has fined a Tennessee company and two of its affiliates $25,000 each for violating a cease and desist order she issued in November of last year. According to the order, the company has been illegally selling insurance products in Oklahoma.

“With the decline of the national economy this past year we have seen an increase in insurance fraud,” said Holland. “I will continue to aggressively combat insurance fraud in our state and I have bolstered the Department’s Anti-Fraud Unit to respond to any increases we may face in Oklahoma.”

Holland added, “It is egregious that hardworking Oklahomans, in their greatest time of need, are being preyed upon by scam artists who purport to offer legitimate insurance.” The company, American Trade Association (ATA), and its various affiliated organizations, are under investigation in at least twenty other states for selling insurance products without a license and for failing to pay claims.

According to Holland, one Oklahoma family had been sending hundreds of dollars to the company each month only to learn, when a family member was diagnosed with cancer and bills were mounting, that their insurance policy was fake.

Holland said ATA and its unlicensed third-party-administrator, Smart Data Solutions, fax unsolicited advertisements and use unlicensed agents and the internet to market their unlicensed products to potential customers throughout the United States, while also falsely claiming affiliations with licensed insurance companies.

Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford also cautioned consumers in December that the ATA was targeting Arkansans.

ource: Oklahoma Insurance Department

Topics Oklahoma