'Where’s your Google timeline?’: Health insurance probe leaves Mumbai-based CA stunned

What if claiming health insurance meant handing over your Google Timeline to prove you were sick? That’s exactly what Mumbai-based CA and podcaster Anupam Gupta says he was asked to do—by two strangers who showed up unannounced at his doorstep. “I’m standing outside your building regarding your claim. Please let me in,” one of them said over the phone. What followed, Gupta recounts, felt less like reimbursement—and more like surveillance.

In a detailed LinkedIn post, Gupta shared his experience of being visited by two men claiming to be from ‘Ace Investigation Agency’ based in Ahmedabad. They showed their ID cards and asked to enter his home to verify a health insurance reimbursement claim.

“They asked for hospitalization papers. I said we’ve already submitted the originals. He demanded for copies. Luckily we had one set,” Gupta wrote.

Once inside, the investigators began taking photos of the documents. “He wants Google Timeline data to prove that we were at the nursing home on that day at that time. We said, we don’t share location to Google and won’t to you,” Gupta recounted.

The demands continued: they asked for photos and videos of the house, a credit card statement to verify payment, and a phone conversation with another agency representative who asked for even more details. After nearly an hour, the family was told to sign a disclaimer for the data they refused to share.

“I was not contacted by my health insurance company at all. These guys just landed up outside my building,” Gupta wrote. “But that’s obvious, right? If you give advance warning then I will certainly do a scam lol.”

According to Gupta, when he asked if such visits were common, the investigators replied, “All health insurance companies do this,” even showing a gallery of previous disclaimers on their phones as proof.

Despite his frustration, Gupta clarified he’s not naming the insurer. “I’m pretty sure this is an industry-wide practice,” he wrote.