Insurance Like Saving? Client Accuses Altius Insurance of 'Scam'

Jessica Kim accused Cypriot insurance firm Altius Insurance of being “a scam” and advised people not to invest there.

Jessica said she invested 13,400 euros in Altius Insurance for five years and lost nearly half of her capital. When she closed the account, she had only received 7,260.78 EUR.

_{A screenshot of Altius Insurance's website}

Jessica accused the account manager, Angelos Tsolakis, of lying, claiming that he promised capital safety when promoting the insurance, but the results were totally different.

According to Tsolakis, though it was an investment, it was just like a savings that made no loss. It would also help the investor to cut income tax - in Cyprus, people who purchase life insurance can be exempted from a portion of income tax. Eventually, instead of making profits, Jessica lost half of her capital. She criticized Tsolakis for making ungrounded claims to onboard a new client.

In addition, Tsolakis assured the client that after five years of investing, no penalty would be imposed for closing her account. However, when Jessica decided to quit, Altius Insurance allegedly imposed a penalty, contradicting the manager’s promise.

_{email reply from life insurance account manager}

What’s more, Jessica said she invested €150 per month in the initial 27 months. Later, the price rose to €400 in the next 17 months, which made her pay more than the amount stated in the initial contract.

The account manager refused to acknowledge the price increase while emphasizing the benefits of tax deduction until the client found a copy of the document signed by Tsolakis, detailing the price change.

Jessica accused Tsolakis of answering beyond the question. She said that the insurance firm had nothing to do with taxes, and Tsolakis didn't need to emphasize the matter about that. “You don't need to tell me what kind of income tax benefit I got, you just tell me what happened to my DEPOSIT/investment/return,” she added.

Jessica requested monthly reports from Altius Insurance and wanted to know how they calculate and get the amount of €7,260.78. However, the company didn't reply to that and provided inconsistent answers to her questions. More importantly, their calculations did not match.

“It seems like I just learned an expensive lesson,” Jesscia said. “Hope nobody gets into this mess.”