[CBC News] Last year, the Financial Supervisory Service issued an unusual consumer alert. The alert stated that cases of using free gifts as bait to lure expectant parents into insurance company booths at wedding and parenting expos to induce enrollment were on the rise. The key problem highlighted by the FSS was that a significant number of parents who visited these expos with the excitement of expecting a child ended up inadvertently signing up for insurance before heading home.

There is a clear reason why this practice is repeatedly occurring, particularly around fetal insurance. Fetal insurance is a product that needs to be looked into urgently as soon as one learns of a pregnancy, leaving less room to compare and deliberate at length compared to other types of insurance. Moreover, for first-time parents, even the names of special riders are unfamiliar, making it difficult to scrutinize the scope of coverage one by one. Capitalizing on this psychological urgency and information gap, gift-based marketing using baby items such as strollers and car seats to attract attention has long persisted, primarily in online parenting communities and expo venues.

■ Gifts Exceeding Legal Standards: 'Policyholders Can Also Be Subject to Punishment'

The problem is that the provision of gifts for fetal insurance is strictly limited by law. The Insurance Business Act sets limits on the monetary value of gifts that can be provided in return for an insurance enrollment, and items or cash exceeding these limits are, in principle, prohibited. However, small gifts below a certain amount are not entirely banned and are exceptionally permitted as long as they do not exceed the legal standards.

Nevertheless, many of the gifts actually exchanged in the field far exceed these standards. If monetary gifts above the standard are given and received, not only the agent who provided them but also the policyholder who received them may face legal disadvantages together.

■ The Better the Gift, the Higher the Premium

The reason this sales method persists is clear. The more generous the gift, the more the premium is designed to be unnecessarily high. From the agent's perspective, funds must be secured to provide the gifts, and this inevitably gets reflected somewhere in the premium or commission structure. In effect, the cost of the gift is embedded in the monthly premium the consumer pays. Even if one is satisfied with the immediate gift in front of them, they may actually suffer a loss in the long run.

Given this situation, an increasing number of expectant parents are now looking to evaluate products based on coverage rather than gifts. To choose the right fetal insurance without being swayed by gifts, three things must be carefully examined.

■ 3 Things to Check Before Signing Up for Fetal Insurance

First is the enrollment timing. Second is the coverage scope of the fetal special rider and the maternity special rider. Checking in advance whether these two riders are structured in a balanced manner without leaning too heavily to one side can reduce panic when actual medical expenses arise. Third is the coverage period and premium structure. If one's judgment is swayed by gifts and they sign up with an unnecessarily long maturity or with unnecessary riders included, the premiums they will have to bear over the long term can snowball. Since there are opinions that it is advantageous to structure coverage only as much as needed around core benefits, the maturity and rider composition should be examined once more.

Whether at an expo or in an online community, rather than signing an application on the spot, it is necessary to take a few days to compare products from multiple insurance companies side by side. Basing the decision on what coverage the child actually needs, rather than the size of the gift, is ultimately the choice that will result in the least loss.

[This article was written with the assistance of AI. This article is based on currently publicly available information, and we recommend verifying the facts once more.]