London Police Sound Alert over £350 Million Third World Invader “Cash for Crash” Scam
Police in London have officially sounded the alert on BBC Asian Radio over “Pakistani, Afghan and Bangladeshi criminal gangs in Britain” who are staging deliberate car accidents in order to claim their victims’ car insurance money.
London police inspector Nick Chalmers told the BBC’s Asian Radio (strange that there is no BBC “European Radio”) that the Third World gangs were operating primarily in Yorkshire, Lancashire and the suburbs of London.
“The modus operandi of the gangs appears to be to move closely in a convoy of two cars,” Inspector Chalmers said. “The first car suddenly brakes very hard, as does the second, forcing the targeted victim’s car to crash into the rear of the second car.
“The perpetrators then make a fraudulent car crash claim to their victim’s insurance company for damages to their vehicle and for personal injuries, such as whiplash — real or not. Some fraudsters have claimed for injuries to persons not even present in the vehicle,” he said.
According to Inspector Chalmers, ten such gangs operate in North West London alone, and the count of staged accidents could be as high as 20 every day in the capital city.
According to an Insurance Fraud Bureau report issued in July this year, incidents of criminally staged, fake car accidents are on the increase. The cost to the industry is passed on to all drivers, not just the victims.
According to the Association of British Insurers, all bogus claims — including those made in ‘cash for crash’ scams — can add five percent, or 44 pounds, to the insurance premiums of law-abiding motorists.
“Innocent members of the public are being involved in serious collisions by criminal gangs just to make money. It is putting them and other road users seriously at risk,” Inspector Chalmers said.
In one highly publicised court case last month, an insurance claimant in Manchester was charged after making a claim when he was not even at the wheel. Rashid Shaikh (pictured above) claimed to have been driving an Audi when it was hit by a Volvo at a roundabout on the A34 near Cheadle, Manchester Crown Court was told.
However, the jury heard the car was really being driven by another man called Mohammed Patel, who earned tens of thousands of pounds in the “crash for cash” scam to which Inspector Chalmers referred. William Baker, prosecuting, said Patel, 24, earned £46,000 by staging 92 crashes on the North West’s roads over three years.
Mr Baker said: “Between 2005 and 2008, Mohammed Patel staged over 90 road traffic accidents on roundabouts in the North West.
The Audi’s owner — Iqbal Khan, 49, of Argo Street, Bolton — claimed more than £5,000 for the damage, it was said. His son, Ershad Khan, 22, also from Argo Street, Bolton, claimed to have been a passenger. He and Shaikh claimed for whiplash.
