Month: June 2019

The Dangers of Crash for Cash Scammers

What to do if you have been targeted by a crash for cash fraudster

 

What is a crash for cash scam?

Crash for Cash scams are a form of premeditated fraud when an individual or group of people deliberately cause, fabricate or stage an accident with the intention of putting forward a claim for personal injury and receiving payment under the policy that they would not be otherwise entitled to.

Crash for cash scammers usually take the time out to choose their victims carefully. They look for vulnerable drivers and drivers who don’t look like they would cause too much fuss, such as young women driving alone or mothers with children in the car.

Types of Crash for Cash scams?

The three most common types of crash for cash scams are; a staged accident, an induced accident and a fabricated accident.

  • Staged Accident – Fraudsters can stage an accident by crashing their own vehicles together or use something to mimic the damage of a crash such as a sledgehammer to dent or smash parts of their car.
  • Induced Accident – The fraudster will target an innocent motorist as their victim to become the “fault driver” and deliberately cause them to crash into them such as by slamming on the breaks so the victim hits them in the rear or flashing a car to let them out of a side road and then proceeding to crash into them, making the victim to appear at fault.
  • Fabricated Accident – These are also known as “ghost accidents” where the fraudster will attempt to claim for compensation for an accident that didn’t ever occur.

Things to look out for

  • Be vigilant and look out for erratic or unpredictable drivers, does the car in front keep unnecessarily speeding up, slowing down or suddenly braking. Remember to leave plenty of room between your car and the car in front so that you have ample breaking distance as some fraudsters go as far as disabling their break lights.
  • If the driver of the car in front is paying particular attention to your car travelling behind them such as constantly checking mirrors to see if you are paying attention, they may be planning to slam on their brakes and cause an accident.
  • Remember that just because another driver flashes you to pull out, it doesn’t necessarily mean it is safe to go, be sure to use your own judgement and always proceed with caution.

What to do if you have been a victim of a crash for cash scam

  • Gather all necessary information; driver and passenger names, insurance details and registration of the vehicle. Also take photos of the accident scene if it is safe to do so.
  • Do not admit liability at the scene of the accident and suggest calling the police to the scene as this may cause the fraudster to back off.
  • When you report the accident to your insurer, be sure to report your suspicions of the legitimacy of the other driver.
  • See if there are any witnesses at the scene, however take care with this as fraudsters could be in on placing witnesses at the scene.
  • Finally, you can report the accident to the Insurance Fraud Bureau via their website or by calling on 0800 422 0421

Consequences of making a Fraudulent Claim for Personal Injury

What are the consequences of making a fraudulent claim for personal injury?

A fraudulent claim is recognised as when the person making a claim intentionally leaves out, mispresents, alters or hides vital information relating to the claim. This is with the intention of receiving payment under the policy that they would not be otherwise entitled to.

There are 2 types of fraudulent personal injury claims

Insurance fraud can be recognised as two different categories, Soft Fraud and Hard Fraud. Soft fraud or “opportunity fraud” is the most common type of fraud committed, an example of this is when the individual claiming “fakes” or exaggerates their injuries sustained from the accident they were involved in. Hard fraud or “premeditated fraud” is when the individual claiming has deliberately been involved in an incident, an example of this is “crash for cash” claims where the claimant has intentionally caused another party to collide with their vehicle.

Consequences of making a fraudulent claim based on the type

Soft Fraud

Soft fraud usually stems from a sincere claim, where the claimant has been involved in a genuine non-fault accident and is feeling some discomfort or minor injury, however they may exaggerate the amount of pain or discomfort they are in as a bid to be awarded a higher amount of compensation. If it is believed that the claimant is attempting to make a soft fraudulent claim the solicitors or insurance company can review the case and involve the police as well as share the claimants’ details with other insurance companies or solicitors firms to alert them that they may contact their business to commit fraud in the future. They may also pass the claimants details onto fraud prevention database, Cifas, once on this database it can be extremely difficult for the individual to get insurance or have access to other financial services.

Hard Fraud

Hard fraud is when the claimant has planned on making a claim for personal injury and therefore has prearranged an “accident” to occur. Staged accidents are a huge part of organised crime and are often referred to as “Crash for Cash” claims. There is a harsher punishment for these kind of claims as there are innocent people at risk of genuine injuries. If an individual is found to have committed hard fraud when making a personal injury claim they can be sentenced to up to 3 years in prison.

Courts have begun to take a much tougher approach on insurance fraud as an attempt to discourage the behaviour, as stated in the featured article below, “Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime, it affects all motorists through higher premiums and staged accidents can put other road users at risk of serious injury or even death.”

Read the full article in the Insurance Times here: http://ow.ly/7C3u50uNk4p

 

Look out for our next blog post to read more about Crash for Cash claims and what to do if you think you have been a victim of one of these scams!

How Social Media is used to investigate Fraudulent Claims

Social Media and Accident Claims

Social Media has become a central point of modern day life. There are various platforms where people can share experiences, opinions, photos and anything else they want people to see! However due to people attempting to make false claims for personal injury, defence solicitors are now often turning to social media to ensure the claiming individual is truly suffering or has suffered from an injury. A fraudulent claim is recognised as when the person making the claim intentionally leaves out, mispresents, alters or hides vital information relating to the claim. This is done with the intention of receiving payment under the policy that they would not be otherwise entitled to. 

If you are making a claim for personal injury, it is most likely because you have been injured in a non-fault accident and you would like to be compensated for the pain and suffering you have had or are still enduring. If you are a devoted social media poster it may come as second nature for you to post about your accident or injury online to let your followers and friends know how you are doing after the incident. Defence solicitors will now often check the following areas to make sure your claim for personal injury is genuine, as there are serious consequences that come with making false claims. 

Inconsistent Check-ins  

If you are claiming for a serious injury, such as a broken leg or arm, but then found to be checking in as playing football with your friends, the defence solicitors will use this post against you to invalidate the claim as it would appear you are participating in an activity that isn’t consistent with the injury you have claimed to be suffering from. This however is an extreme example. One of the more common incidents in this area is accident locations.

People when filling in claim forms or speaking to insurers will often give the location of the accident as to the best of their knowledge being true. However it has been seen that when an accident occurs people take pictures of the accident and upload to their social media platform where in the geo location tag has stated that they are somewhere else or the image shows the name of the road being different to the location stated in the claim form. If this is seen to be inconsistent with the initial claim, third party insurers or solicitors have been seen to invalidate claims on this basis. 

Comments on your posts 

Comments on your social media posts may contribute towards defence solicitors arguing your claim is fraudulent if someone comments something that contradicts your injury details, such as commenting about your quick recovery or participation in something you have claimed not to be able to do. 

Photo Uploads

Being tagged in photos uploaded to the platform by other people can paint a very different picture to the injury claim being presented. While still injured, photo evidence can in the moment display a different point of view to that which is actual reality. Photos that you post on social media are also checked to see what you are physically capable of. As an example something as simple as posting a photo of your dogs enjoying an afternoon walk in the hills, a solicitor would place you as being able to climb a hill to take the photo which can be used to invalidate any claim being made. 

The consequences for making a fraudulent claim can vary anywhere from a fine to prison time. Look out for our next blog upload to read more about the consequences of making a fraudulent claim!