I definitely don’t have a criminal mind which leaves me shocked by what lengths criminal minds will go to on a regular basis.
A friend of mine’s teenage son recently was in an accident. It was basically his fault as he made a left-hand turn and a car proceeding straight (arguably at a high rate of speed and possibly texting) clipped the back of his car.
No one was hurt and my friend (the Dad) who lives nearby had gone up to the accident scene while they waited on the police and tow trucks. There were just two cars involved. My friend noticed that another car had come along after the accident and pulled off to the side of the road. He went over to let them know that everything was good and they were just waiting for the police. The person did not really engage, just said okay. He did not think much about it at the time.
So, with police reports done and the accident cleared, insurance took over. Much to my friend’s surprise, the car that pulled up and parked nearby after the accident had filed a claim stating that the front end of their car was hit with debris from the accident AND insurance paid their hefty claim right away, no questions asked!
Wow! There was no flying debris and this was a total scam. And you know I googled it, it’s called “phantom victim” and it happens a lot.
The same week another friend of mine was sitting at a red light and a car coming up behind her ran into her stationary car. The car pulled around her and sped off. She got the license plate number. The police refused to even come out and file a report or follow up on it. They apparently have better things to worry about. I don’t know, I think that is called Hit and Run!
This got me thinking about how to protect my three Wolf (aka teenage), drivers when I remembered that they all had cameras in their cars that recorded their driving from the front and back. Wolf 1 had asked for it for Christmas a few year’s back. His logic was that as a teenager, he would rather have proof of what happened, given a cop would likely discount his version of events over an adult. Smart wolf. Any whoo, I realized that all my wolves and my husband now had these cameras in their cars. I am the only one without one, so that is now on my list to acquire.
Other ways to protect yourself are to take lots of pictures of the scene and of whom is at the scene. And try your best to make sure you work with the officer to ensure the police report is correct.
Accidents happen and they happen fast and it is hard to stay calm after and you hate to have to put on your skeptic’s hat but that is where we things are at so it will help to be ready with a plan to protect yourself.
https://www.nicb.org/prevent-fraud-theft/staged-auto-accident-fraud
https://securitybros.com/8-strong-reasons-why-should-you-consider-buying-a-dash-cam/
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