car crash scam - BEWARE

PCPhoto

check it out !!

http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/rise-of-swoop-and-squat-car-crash-scam-90941.html

only bad thing is that insurance companies will use this to hike up premiums....similar with a lot of dodgy insurance claims going on at the moment .....businesses are pressed for money and turn to insurance claims to try help clear debts.

rocknchef

PCPhoto wrote: »

check it out !!

http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/rise-of-swoop-and-squat-car-crash-scam-90941.html

only bad thing is that insurance companies will use this to hike up premiums....similar with a lot of dodgy insurance claims going on at the moment .....businesses are pressed for money and turn to insurance claims to try help clear debts.

Scary thing is this happened to my wife about 7years ago and we taught it was a scam then. But nothing we could do to prove it.

hiked up her premium.:mad:

PCPhoto

according to the article it's been going on for ages (in USA and UK and more recently here)...... only bad thing is that when people read it in the paper..... they get ideas !!! - so it'll increase.

I know I'll be driving with a lot more care and attention

joey54

PCPhoto wrote: »

check it out !!

http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/rise-of-swoop-and-squat-car-crash-scam-90941.html

only bad thing is that insurance companies will use this to hike up premiums....similar with a lot of dodgy insurance claims going on at the moment .....businesses are pressed for money and turn to insurance claims to try help clear debts.

Thanks for posting that. Must point it out to my younger sister who has recently passed her test and is now driving on her own! At least if people were actually aware of scams like these maybe we would be better able to combat them.

Tipsy Mac

I'd imagine the scam would be fairly limited in that the same people could only do the scam once or their sheer bad luck would be noticed by the claims data shared between insurance companies.

PCPhoto

tipsey.... twice (driver in first car disappears - they could switch roles)

if you get/fake whiplash from a car accident in a Civil Court Action you can get upto €38,500 and with the MIBI happy to assess and stop cases going to court (ie. offering good settlement money).

I was in the Civil Court a few weeks ago - a kid got 15K for claiming whiplash - he was rear ended in a crash in his leaving cert year (he claimed he couldnt goto physio as recommended by his doctor, but before the accident he was GAA training 3-4times a week - so now he wasnt going training but still didnt try to goto physio) ..... IMO he was lying through his arse and the judge gave him 15K for it.

L-M

It's a sad case to see this happening. And as said, this will only hike up insurance premiuims for the rest of us. I can imagine people will do anything for money.

franksm

Saw this exact thing on one of those World's Scariest Police Taser Dooda programmes - a bus had been fitted with a forward-looking video camera in the UK, and its primary use was to catch people misusing the bus lanes.

In this case it also caught some dough-head in a small car continually jamming his brakes on in front of the bus, even matching the bus as it moved from lane to lane to avoid it. Seems there was a spate of such claims against public service vehicles there...

McSpud

Seems like the main news is that this has been going on for years in other countries but up until recently AXA had only 4 staff assigned to their fraud department.

Damien360

This is an old scam run by the knackers for years. Was told this happened to a guy a AFBI Hillsborough at the Hillsborough roundabout. Luckily he did'nt get caught out as a cop car witnessed it and ran the other driver. Did'nt even attempt to question them. Knew it was a scam. Time limit for claim was 1 year (possibly 18 months) and guy involved feared getting stuck with a bill for the other car for that length of time as cops never took any details due to nobody hurt.

A variant of it is the one they do on taxis. Car in front and one tailing taxi. Taxi full of the knackers. Front car slams on, car behind makes sure it is a crash by giving taxi a tip. Rear car leaves scene and lots of sore necks in the taxi. Happened a few years ago close to Swords on old N1 near a roundabout.

AsphaltRisin'

similar things to this happened to two people i know. But with positive outcomes thankfully.

First was my father, 4 lowlifes in a wrecked micra, 3 male, one female (and pregnant :eek:!!!) were in a car in front of him which braked suddenly for no reason, he's fairly on the ball about drivin so he easily managed not to rear end them, they then REVERSED back into his car then got out and started shouting to other people nearby that they'd been crashed into, called the gards and the ambulance and fire service. though my father also called the gards as he'd been deliberately rammed.
The people in the micra then lay down on the ground and started complaining of injuries. but get this, the ambulance driver recognised them from a similar incident and he, along with 3 other motorists agreed to testify in court for my father. but in the meantime the micra occupants went about a law suit and claiming for insurnace, though because what the did was witnessed it turned out ok in the end.


The second incident was a good friend of mine, going to work driving along in his little fiesta, and that "swoop and squat" operation was carried out, wrecking his poor car. When investigated by the insurance people and gardai he was off the hook and the scammers got no payout, and one got prosecuted

Delta Kilo

"We found out under a discovery order that both men had reduced their handicap by three while maintaining they had whiplash."

Haha...didn't they not get suspicious when there was some randomer hiding in the bushes recording them at the golf club? Fools. I hope they rot in hell, raising our insurance premiums!:mad::mad:

Sesame

It happened me in a particular part of London which is well-known for this. I was warned of it beforehand.
A car overtook me on the inside lane, drving very aggressively, and jammed on the brakes right in front of me.
Luckily, I didn't hit him but it was close. He stayed stopped there for what felt like a couple of minutes. I was terrifed as I couldn't pass him as I was so close up behind him, just made sure the doors were locked.
Just as strangely then he sped off, doing the same to another car in front!