When you are in an accident you may be in too much shock to register every little fact. But sometimes you just get the feeling that something was not quite right. If in the days and weeks following it, you cannot shake off this nagging thought, then chances are that you or your insurer are victims of insurance fraud.
Data from many sources say that insurance policy holders and insurance companies are incurring losses in billions every year. There are many common occurrences of insurance fraud, especially during the recession. With every kind of thief from the amateurs to the more organized crime syndicates getting into it, insurance fraud can be of many different types.
A spokesperson from a reputed Insurance Information company said that staged auto accidents are increasingly bold in their schemes and are a dangerous criminal activity that is undermining many insurance companies. Many a time it is the urban areas that are the scene of such fraud accidents and in spite of what you may believe are just as common in wealthier areas. The higher priced neighborhoods are targeted more as the people here will definitely have higher coverage than those in other neighbourhoods.
Among the 12 states in the U.S. with no fault laws it is seen that the highest number of staged accidents occur in Florida followed by New York, Michigan and New Jersey. Staged accidents are pretty rampant in these locations on account of this single law and a bill is being considered to make insurance frauds more difficult.
When you know some of the key indicators that you are a part of a staged accident, you will be in a better position to know when you are being conned.
Make sure that you watch out for these signals
- People in an accident insist that you meet with a certain attorney or physicians
- Two trucks that come on the scene without anyone having called
- Inflated claims following an accident with facts being misrepresented
- Physicians who insist on filing a personal injury claim, despite the fact that you are unhurt.
A rise staged accidents has been noticed by at least 26 percent since 2009. If you have a doubt that an accident you witnessed or was a part of was staged, make sure that you report it to the authorities. It will make it difficult for claims to be inflated and it will also help the authorities to be on the lookout for the people when they try to pull it off next time.
