Flash for Cash – fraudulent injury claim

The insurance industry has seen their fair share of fraudulent claims.  There is apparently a new scam on the increase as highlighted on the BBC News recently. It’s called flash-for-cash and usually involves the criminal deliberately flashing another driver beckoning them to either pull out from a side road on to the main road or turn right across their path.  The other driver relying on the “flash” emerges only to find that the criminal does not stop but instead drives into them. It usually involves one persons word against the other – and the innocent victim’s insurer invariably is always left to pick up the tag. The recession and the advertising hype via the media advertising claims and actively encouraging people to make claims has led to the rise and increase in fraudulent claims.  We have all seen the documentaries in the past. The famous one is the phantom passenger :  You have an accident with another driver.  You are probably aware of one front seat passenger – yet a claim is then made by at least four people – the driver suddenly acquiring two other back seat passengers who were allegedly there at the time. Or there is the famous case of the bus that was involved in an accident.  The ticket machine reveals that there were 20 or so paying passengers – yet about 30 – 40 claims are made.  (CCTV later showed several bystanders hopping on to the bus after – pretending that they were there on the bus at the time of crash. The list goes on.  This latest scam is however very concerning.  We commute through congested traffic and rely on the good nature of other drivers to “let us out”.  Now this seriously questions whether we can rely on good natured gestures such as flashing.

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