Auto insurance fraud scams are designed to force policyholders into paying higher premiums on costly claims for the benefit of the scammer. Its art goes way back to the early days of insurance, such as in ancient Greece where ship scuttling (where ships were purposely sunk) to collect money. From there, auto insurance fraud made its way to England and America. Fraudulent insurance claims hit major peaks when automobiles were invented. Now, with the trappings of modern technology, highly complex organized crime rings have been organized to produce these auto insurance frauds - many of which are hard to detect.

 

First, it is important to know what types of auto insurance scams are out there. Auto insurance scams include set-up car accidents where con artists purposely stop in front of a driver to cause a rear end accident to drivers who cause a car accident on the basis of pretending to be helpful while shifting responsibility to the innocent driver. In addition, doctors and lawyers have been involved in auto insurance scams in the past.


Self Damage: after a vehicle is damaged in an accident (real or fake), the driver proceeds to ram his car into a tree or manually cause damage, with the claim these damages happened during the original accident.

Staged Rear End Accidents: Here, a scam driver strategically slam the brakes while the innocent driver behind them plows into him/her. This is a rear-end accident, which allows the scam driver to collect money for damages. If the scammer is savvy enough, he will pretend to incur major/minor injuries (shrewd ones may even inflict self injury) to collect even more auto insurance money.

Fake Samaritans: This scam involves waving an innocent driver into traffic followed by slamming into their car. Come auto insurance claim time, the scam driver will deny waving at anyone. In addition, fake Samaritans try to lure people by referring them to doctors, lawyers, and auto repair shops - all of whom are part of the scam. The doctor and lawyer produce lie to milk the insurance company, and the auto repair shop charges outrageous fees.

Auto insurance scams can happen anytime. Always be aware of your surroundings and be on the lookout for drivers on the pursuit. Never tailgate the car in front of you. In case of an accident, have your Accident Scene Information Checklist handy and snap pictures with your camera (CLICK HERE to learn how to take accident scene photographs.) Finally, exercise safe judgment while driving, as a keen eye for the road is one of the best ways to avoid filing auto insurance claims.