In British Columbia, the Insurance Council of British Columbia has issued an order banning Victoria Kwong from applying for an insurance license for three years after Kwong used a former client’s credit card to process her own Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) transaction. Kwong must also complete coursework before being licensed again in the future.
In the insurance council’s intended decision, the former level 1 insurance salesperson is accused of using the credit card of an unknown person to pay for her own ICBC transaction in February 2022.
“The agency investigation revealed that the former licensee had used the complainant’s credit card information to pay a $700 debt she owed to ICBC, which needed to be resolved before the former licensee’s ICBC renewal could be processed. The renewal was partially completed by an employee who had only been with the agency for three days. When it came time to pay, the former licensee manually input the credit card number and then the former licensee proceeded to renew her own ICBC auto insurance,” the intended decision states.
In interviews with investigators, Kwong says she thought the credit card belonged to her husband. The husband, however, advised that he had not given his credit card to Kwong.
“The agency further discovered that the former licensee had completed another transaction without a physical credit card on February 14, 2022, in the amount of $327. The transaction was for a debt that the former licensee owned ICBC. The agency was unable to verify the identity of the credit card holder and never received a complaint regarding this charge.” Kwong says the numbers were written in a notebook she used with her previous employer and that she used the wrong card numbers in error.
Kwong was suspended from conducting ICBC Autoplan business for a period of two years. Charges were not pursued after Kwong agreed to reimburse the agency for the $700 she initially charged using the former client’s credit card. As of the decision’s publication date Kwong had not yet repaid the debt – noted as an aggravating factor in the intended decision. “Additionally, council noted that it did not appear that the former licensee took accountability for her actions or recognized her wrongdoing, as she told the council investigator that she used her husband’s credit card information when she had already admitted to the RCMP constable that she had knowingly used a credit card number that did not belong to her.”
In addition to the three-year ban, Kwong must pay council’s investigation costs in the amount of $1,781.25.
