While spammers are posing as regulators from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, that body is nevertheless going ahead with its plans to digitise the approval process for new general and life insurance products in line with the 'Digital India' plans of premier Narendra Modi (pictured).

IRDAI warns that fraudsters seem to be cheating policy-holders of some insurance companies by impersonating as its representatives. They have also created fake login IDs such as crc@irda.org.in, which echoes IRDAI’S official domain url of www.irda.gov.in.

The fraudster's typical ploy is to send fictitious offers of large sums of money by email while posing as an IRDAI official. Such offers are made in names such as ‘IRDA Government’ and 'Insurance Control Authority,  Delhi.' IRDAI seems to be floundering in its response, asking victims to get in touch with the Cybercrime branch of the police. The regulator is not going into any other details about these scams at the moment.

Against this backdrop, the insurance regulator is putting its entire product approval process online for all kinds of insurance, both life and general. The target date is reportedly the year's end. The authority is testing the system out now and collecting feedback from India's insurance carriers.