There has been a recent spate of con artists attempting to cash in on the ability to make a No Win No Fee Injury, by setting up car crashes and then making fraudulent personal injury claims.
In many of the scams the criminals involved drove into each other’s cars, so that one person could make a claim off the other person’s insurance, and then they would both split the payout. Other gangs targeted accident hotspots such as roundabouts and then drove in a manner that would make it likely they would be crashed into from behind. Estimates suggest that the number of these types of scams rose sharply last year, although the good news is the chance of the perpetrators getting caught is on the increase too.
One such scam was attempted in West London, and involved crashing a double-decker bus. One member of the gang drove the bus, whilst carrying six other accomplices as passengers, into the car of another member of the gang, in a bid to gain thousands of pounds in compensation by defrauding the insurers.
Whilst following the usual route, the bus failed to pick up those waiting at stops for the bus, meaning there were no actual passengers on the bus, although there was still a risk of innocent pedestrians or motorists being injured at the crash scene.
The men involved then filed insurance claims for head and neck injuries and also attempted to gain from refer a friend schemes, to further increase their cash pot, which would be split equally. However they were detected when the investigating officers on the case were tipped of that the men knew each other, and by using mobile phone records they were able to prove the men were linked.
The bus driver plus the six passengers, the accomplice driving the car, plus their passenger were all found guilty of fraudulent activity, with three of them receiving suspended six month prison sentences.
If you have a genuine whiplash claim, then our no-win no-fee solicitors can help you put a claim together.