Fraud investigators have warned motorists of a dangerous new insurance scam, dubbed “flash for cash”.
The scam involves criminals flashing their headlights to let a driver out at a junction, and then deliberately crashing into them.
Not only is the scam incredibly dangerous, putting the life of the innocent driver at risk, but it can also cost the victim thousands of pounds. Criminals target motorists that they believe will put up little resistance, namely the elderly and women with young children, and then make their “cash” through the insurance.
It can serve as an easy payday for the fraudster, making false claims for loss of earnings, vehicle repairs or recovery, replacement car hire and personal injury (most often whiplash).
Moreover, the scams impact significantly on the industry as a whole – it costs insurers millions of pounds a year, which leaves them with no option but to charge higher premiums for the insurance-paying motorist. This in turn leads to millions of people providing false information to insurers to cut their costs, which creates problems through the invalidation of policies. You can read more about that here.
Detective Inspector Dave Hindmarsh from the Metropolitan Police told how the issue was “a growing problem” when speaking to the BBC.
“Financially it costs insurers £392m a year. That impacts on motorists as it's an extra £50 to £100 on every person's premium, so that's a financial cost.
"[There are] emotional costs [as] if you're involved in a crash you could well lose your confidence, and if your passengers are children they may well become wary of being passengers in cars, and of course you may get injured or killed."
The dangers of insurance scams were highlighted in June 2011 when 34-year-old Baljinder Kaur Gill was killed in a car crash staged by fraudsters for the benefit of insurance claims.
She was a victim of the similar and more well-known “crash for cash” scam, whereby criminals slam on their brakes for no reason, forcing a driver to crash into the back of their vehicle. It was the first time a scam of its kind had been known to cause the death of a driver.
Four conmen were jailed at Reading Crown Court in February this year over the killing.
Click here to sign up for our monthly newsletter
