WHAT IS INSURANCE FRAUD? . Individuals who deliberately lie to WARNING SIGNS OF A STAGED insurance companies to help others COLLISION People commit insurance fraud when they obtain fraudulent benefits can also be deliberately lie to an insurance company or criminally prosecuted. Be aware of the following red flags if you agent to collect money and benefits to which suspect you are the victim of a staged collision: they are not entitled.

. Problem ID: The other driver gives you THE MOST COMMON TYPES a temporary identification without a INSURANCE FRAUD COSTS OF AUTOMOBILE COLLISION INSURANCE FRAUD photo, or the ID was not issued by the CONSUMERS State of California . No Permanent Address: The other The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates STAGED COLLISIONS: Organized criminal driver provides you with a post office that insurance fraud costs over $40 billion rings often create staged collisions involving box instead of a local street address. dollars each year. Insurance fraud costs the unsuspecting motorists. These schemes include: . Quick Exit: The other driver wants to average U. S. family an average of $400 to $700 get your insurance and contact a year in the form of higher premiums. . Sudden Stop: The driver of the vehicle information fast and leave the scene According to the National Insurance Crime in front of you stops suddenly for no before the police arrive and a report can Bureau, insurance fraud is the second most reason, causing you to rear-end the be taken. costly crime in the United States, next only to vehicle. . Pre-Existing Damage: The other tax evasion. California leads the nation with the driver’s vehicle has pre-existing damage highest number of suspected insurance fraud . Yielding Right of Way: You are or damage that does not match the cases. Automobile fraud is the most common motioned to go ahead or pass through an damage to your vehicle. type of insurance fraud. intersection. The other driver then . Insurance “Lingo”: The other driver purposely causes a collision and denies uses words or terminology that suggests he or she ever yielded the right of way considerable knowledge of insurance COMMITTING INSURANCE FRAUD IS to you. procedures. A FELONY . Unsolicited Referrals: The other driver . Phantom Pedestrian: A pedestrian advises that you go to a specific auto Under California law, the criminal penalties for steps in front of or falls onto the hood or body repair shop, law office, or medical committing insurance fraud are a felony trunk of your car while you are waiting office after the collision. conviction with a maximum incarceration time at a stop sign or backing out of a parking . Growing Injuries: The collision occurs of five (5) years in jail and a maximum fine of space. The pedestrian will typically wait at slow speeds and the other party $50,000 or double the amount of the fraud, until you are looking in the opposite initially only complains of minor injury. whichever is greater. direction before stepping out. No ambulance is called, but later the injury is claimed to have grown into a . . Criminal prosecution of insurance fraud Stuffed Passengers: Passengers who serious medical condition for which they does not require actual monetary loss were not in the vehicle at the time of the demand payment. by the victim. collision. . People who commit insurance fraud can be found guilty without receiving any payout from the insurance company. THE MOST COMMON TYPES agree to do this, or you can be charged with insurance fraud. Solano County OF AUTOMOBILE PROPERTY DAMAGE FRAUD If you suspect shoddy repair work was done on District Attorney’s your vehicle by an automobile body shop, you Various insurance fraud schemes involve illegal can contact the Bureau of Automotive Repair payments for automobile property damage, such (BAR) to perform a free automobile body Office as: inspection to verify that all repairs listed on your

invoice were performed correctly.

. Fake or Inflated Damages: Filing insurance claims for damages to a vehicle which are non-existent, pre- RESOURCES existing, or exaggerated. . Vehicle Theft and Arson: Filing a false California Department of Insurance police report and insurance claim for a (800) 927-4397 or (800) 927-HELP stolen vehicle. In fact, the vehicle is www.insurance.ca.gov deliberately abandoned or set on fire in a secluded area by the owner, hoping to National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) cash in on the insurance policy. (800) 835-6422 or (800) TEL-NICB . Insurance After the Fact: A driver is www.nicb.com involved in an accident and does not have existing automobile insurance California Department of Consumer Affairs coverage. The driver then purchases a Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) policy and subsequently files a false (866) 799-3811 claim by lying about the date of the www.autorepair.ca.gov accident. . Body Shop Fraud: Dishonest body shop operators bill the insurance company for Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts when after-market or salvaged parts were used, or body filler was used to conceal the damage. Fraud can also involve excessive billing for automobile body parts or repair work that was not actually done. AUTOMOBILE

WARNING SIGNS OF AUTOMOBILE Solano County District Attorney’s Office INSURANCE FRAUD PROPERTY DAMAGE FRAUD Automobile Insurance Fraud Unit 675 Texas Street, Suite 4500 AWARENESS GUIDE If the other driver asks you to lie to the Fairfield, CA 94533-6340 insurance company about the true date of an Telephone: (707) 784-6800 accident so you can get paid on a claim, do not Facsimile: (707) 784-7986