Crash For Cash Scam

Anti-fraud intelligence specialists, the Asset Protection Unit (APU), are warning motorists about a potential new scam that is being used by organised criminals. This new ploy, which they call “crash for ready cash” involves gangs deliberately staging an accident and then intimidating the innocent victim into handing over money in return for not getting insurers involved.

Historically, ‘crash for cash’ gangs stage collisions and then make fraudulent personal injury claims through insurers, pocketing the pay-outs if they get past the insurers’ fraud detection systems. But this emerging version of the crime is being used by gangs looking for a quick fix route to the money by sidestepping the insurer and the risk of detection by the Police.

In the instances investigated by the APU, criminals appear to target more vulnerable motorists, like young females who are driving alone, or elderly people, in the hope that they can force them to hand over cash more readily.

We would advise anyone who is involved in a road traffic collision not to hand over any cash at the scene but exchange details and record the nature of the damage and number of people involved. If possible, take photos of the location and damage and if you suspect the incident is staged or feel intimidated, call the police and remain in your vehicle.

If the above scheme, product or article interests you, please mention this when contacting us. That way we can select the insurer/product mentioned, as we have a range of insurers that offer different benefits, for example not all of our insurers may cover the key elements mentioned above.

We do everything we possibly can to check that we have got our facts straight, but it’s always possible that we could make a mistake (hopefully not or never would be better). Therefore we would like to make you aware that we accept no responsibility for information that may be factually incorrect or out of date, but we will do our best to make sure that all content is accurate. Our vision behind bringing the blog to the wider community is to keep our clients and prospective clients informed of their legal requirements, the different products on offer and how they may benefit your business and the new schemes we find which we think will benefit you.

We are Personal and Commercial Insurance Brokers based in Newquay covering the whole of Cornwall including Newquay, Truro, Penzance, Liskeard, Redruth, Bodmin, St Austell & Helston.