Car Insurance companies are a constant target of criminals especially those who engage in fraudulent acts. This is because when they succeed with their scheme, they are able to scourge a lot of money often costing the insured person as well as the insuring company. It is therefore relevant to protect yourself against these forms of crimes in order not to compromise your car insurance and to save yourself the trouble of fixing the effects of such hideous crimes. The worst effect of these crimes is death to any of the parties involved.
The two most common crimes related to this subject include identity theft and fake accidents.
Identity theft is a fast-rising crime of our generation. Thanks to the internet which allows worldwide access to each and every person in the world, it has made the crime of stealing identities more convenient and easier to accomplish. Hackers are able to hold access to important details regarding a person. This will enable them to change a person’s address, apply for a credit card using another person’s identity, use their car insurance grants and thus, scourge money from people whose identity they have compromised.
Most of the time, the effects of identity theft only rise after a few months. At this point, tracking the suspect is no longer possible and the effects are already hard to recover from. Victims of this kind of crime sometimes accumulate debts up to their necks without having purchased one single item or that their insurance has been used up often times making the victim want to reach a point of nervous breakdown. While identity theft can cause emotional, psychological and financial disturbance to a victim, the other type of crime may lead to death.
Staging fake accidents can be easy for some criminals but we know all too well that things go wrong once in a while, sometimes leading to death. Three schemes employed by criminals in staging fake accidents include the “squat and swoop”, panic stop and rear end accidents.
The first thing criminals do is to search for policy holders with the best car insurance policies and once they find their target, they stage the fake accident. When you are driving and the car in front of you suddenly stops creating a collision, this is called the rear end accident. Because you are at the rear end, you become the party at fault and in cases when you won’t be able to prove your innocence regarding this matter; you will have no choice but file for the coverage of the costs to the vehicle you collided with.
Panic stop on the other hand involves a lot of people. This form of crime often involves a vehicle full of passengers. When you collide with that particular vehicle which staged the situation to make you as the at fault party, all the passengers will file for compensation.
Lastly, in the “squat and swoop” incident which is also the most popular type of incident, the cars involved be staged to create a minor accident. The criminals will push for an amicable settlement without involving the police. If the victim agrees, he will be subjected to pay more than what he should and therefore zeroing out his auto insurance policy.
These crimes are all too hard to avoid but a little vigilance could help. Be alert of the things going on around you and always be aware that there are criminals everywhere seeking for a chance to make money whenever they can, at another person’s expense.
