A warning has been issued to motorists regarding a new insurance scam, dubbed \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcflash for cash\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, whereby rogue drivers bait other motorists at junctions by flashing their headlights encouraging them to pull out. Upon pulling out of the junction the unsuspecting victim is then crashed into on purpose with the perpetrator then denying they flashed in order to claim on the insurance.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In a statement from Neil Thomas, Director of the APU, he said: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is yet another example of how criminal gangs are becoming more sophisticated and attempting to stay one step ahead of suspicion.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
He added: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153By appearing to offer the right of way, the criminal simply continues his journey into a collision, holding the victim at fault for turning across them which, of course, cannot be denied under law.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
This new scam is considered a variation on the current \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccrash for cash\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 con, whereby organised gangs use several vehicles to stop suddenly in the hope of creating a rear end collision.<\/p>\n
The Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) estimates that car crash scams cost \u00c2\u00a3392 million per year, with gangs pocketing around \u00c2\u00a31.7 million.<\/p>\n
According to the IFB, 14% of personal injury claims are allegedly linked to \u00e2\u20ac\u02dccrash for cash\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 scams.<\/p>\n
In a statement from Detective Inspector David Hindmarsh, of Metropolitan Police Traffic Command, he said: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The motor industry insurance scams could add an estimated \u00c2\u00a350 to \u00c2\u00a3100 to each policyholder’s annual premium. The organised gangs now use claims management front companies to ‘milk’ the system.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
He continued: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The issue with this new type of collision is that the police would not be called, and there would be no personal injury. Organised criminal groups can set up claim management companies with the sole purpose of defrauding the industry. Insurance costs would then be claimed for recovery of the damaged vehicle, storage while awaiting repairs and car rental during the period.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
In a statement from Otto Thoresen, the Director General of the Association of British Insurers (ABI), he said: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Across the whole insurance industry around 380 fraudulent claims are uncovered daily, worth nearly \u00c2\u00a31bn a year. Another \u00c2\u00a32bn in fraudulent insurance claims are estimated to be made annually across the sector.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Detective Inspector Hindmarsh concluded: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Motorists at junctions should take the utmost care when a driver offers you the opportunity to join the traffic flow. The advice would be if someone flashes you, make sure they are either stopped or don’t risk pulling out. Always make sure it is safe to move before you do so.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A warning has been issued to motorists regarding a new insurance scam, dubbed \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcflash for cash\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, whereby rogue drivers bait other motorists at junctions by flashing their headlights encouraging them to pull out. Upon pulling out of the junction the unsuspecting victim is then crashed into on purpose with the perpetrator then denying they flashed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,76],"tags":[89,486,90],"class_list":["post-76","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-theory-test-today-news","category-driving-insurance","tag-car-insurance","tag-driving-insurance","tag-young-person-insurance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktheorytesttoday.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}