‘Citizens’ Web Site Not Affiliated with Florida Insurer, Takes Users to Auto Quote Site

Investigators with Citizens Property Insurance Corp. are looking into a website that looks a lot like Florida’s largest property insurance carrier but may actually be fraudulent.

“These sites typically ask for credit card or other personal information under the guise of issuing a new policy or paying a claim,” reads a bulletin posted Wednesday by the real Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

When internet users click on CitizensInsuranceFlorida.com, they are taken to an insurance quote-comparison website, offering automobile and homeowners insurance quotes. The actual Citizens Property Insurance, created by Florida lawmakers in 2002, does not offer automobile insurance. Its website home page is CitizensFla.com, and the corporation is not affiliated with the alleged imposter site, an official said.

A Citizens Property Insurance Corp. spokesman said that the corporation’s fraud unit and legal team are taking action to have the site and others taken down from the internet.

The WFTS TV station in Tampa reported that the imposter site at one point carried a review of an insurance agency based in Illinois, but the agency owner said it was all false information. Clicking on the review took users to the quote-comparison site.

The news outlet said it traced the creators of the allegedly false Citizens website to Iceland but could not get a response.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s active-company search page does not list a “Citizens Property Insurance” – the name shown at the top of the quote-comparison site’s home page.

Customers with questions should contact their local insurance agent or contact Citizens directly online or by calling 866.411.2472, said Michael Peltier, director of communications for Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Photo: A screenshot of the “Citizens Property Ins.” home page.

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