6 Types Of Accident Scams You Need To Know About
Accident scams happen every day, and each one is meticulously planned to ensure that innocent drivers like you pay up. Think you may have been involved in an accident scam? Pay attention to the accident scenarios below to see if you have been played.
T-Bone Accidents
Scammers tend to use this tactic to make it appear as if you have run a red light or a stop sign. The scammer will wait for you to be in the middle of the intersection before speeding into you. Scammers will work together, meaning that there will be so-called witnesses who watched you run the stop sign.
The Green Light
This scam may start with you making an attempt to change lanes. Another driver waves you to merge in, but when you do this, he or she actually speeds up instead. As a result, you crash into each other. The scammer will claim that they never waved you to go ahead.
Brake Check
This is perhaps one of the most common types of accident scams. You will be driving alone when all of a sudden the car in front of you slams its breaks on. There is no reason for the braking, and perhaps the driver ahead is so close that you are not able to avoid the accident. A similar type of accident may occur with another car working in tandem with the scammer pulling alongside you so that you cannot swerve to avoid crashing.
Fake Injuries
In some cases, you will be the target of a scam in which a "pedestrian" runs out in front of your car and pretends as if you have struck them. They may pretend to be injured so that they can collect money from you.
Why Hire a Lawyer?
If you find yourself the victim of an auto accident scam, you absolutely must call an attorney (like those at Reed Law) for assistance. The consequences may be too expensive and inconvenient to try to handle on your own. You will also face higher premiums with auto insurance. Plus, you may even sustain injuries from a staged accident, as planned out as it may have been.
Ultimately, you cannot guarantee that you will avoid an accident scam. You must simply be aware of your surroundings and document your accident scene with photos. You can also drive with a dashcam in order to have video evidence of everything that happens in front of you. You can also recognize that you might be a bigger target if you have a new car, luxury vehicle, a work vehicle, or you are a woman or senior.