Con artists in Britain are causing over 1,000 car accidents every week in order to claim insurance money.
The UK is experiencing an increase in the number of staged road accidents. Since 2008, fraudsters have caused over 300,000 car accidents.
More than 1,000 innocent drivers are falling victim to the “crash for cash” scams. All drivers are forced to pay higher premiums as a result.
Women and younger drivers are especially targeted as it is thought that they will be less likely to challenge an insurance claim, according to research by insurer LV=. Its findings show that in the past two years, almost two thirds of victims were female and 59% were under the age of 34.
Various methods are used to create an incident which results in the victim believing they were at fault and admitting responsibility.
The perpetrators expect financial gain by claiming for injuries, such as whiplash, and compensation for loss of vehicle or earnings. LV= has also noted a sharp rise in exaggerated claims, such as an invented injury, claiming for people who were not even in the car or for pre-existing damage to the vehicle.
A major technique is that of suddenly slamming on breaks, forcing the car behind to hit the one which has braked. Some fraudsters even disconnect the brake lights to make their move less obvious. LV= says 30,000 motorists became victims of this type of scam in the past year.
Another ploy is a motorist signalling another car to move into traffic by flashing headlights only to proceed and then crash.
In 2012, £1.1bn of fraudulent insurance claims were lodged, a vast jump from £110m the year before, according to the Association of British Insurers. Since 2007, the level of fraud has almost doubled. The Association says that fraudulent claims comprise 55% of the total.
