Car accident scam

[JohnC6]

Heard today about a scam that I haven't read about before but on checking it seems it started in late 2020. Link below.

My wife's friend, in Cardiff, told her about how her friend who was scammed yesterday after she had an accident in her car and the damage to her car required it to be towed away. She went to a local café and Googled the name of her insurance company on her mobile...Sainsburys. I don't know the detail other than the website she used had a 'click & call' tab which she activated She gave all her details to the person who answered.. a scammer. She gave the location of the car and that the keys were with the cafe´owner who she knew. You can guess the rest. She's lost her car and the scammers have a lot of her personal details.

The advice is to put your insurance company's number into your mobile. I've Googled Sainsburys insurance and can't see a 'click and call' tab on any of the headings. It just can't be for Sainsburys.They must replicate the websites of other insurance companies. When someone gives an account of an incident,no matter what it is, quite often you don''t get the full story or even an accurate one. Bottom line is that she no longer has her car.

Drivers may be targeted by new car insurance scam today

CAR INSURANCE customers have been warned they could be targeted by a new "click to call" scam "immediately after someone is involved in a collision".

www.express.co.uk

 

[Box Brownie]

like any scams the scroats who do have a weakness in either the technology and/or a human behavioural action.

As you mention, good advice to 'simply' have your car insurance accident line in the phone. Something I will be doing myself.

PS though in part I wonder about how many accidents, proportionately, result in a car being immobilised.....meaning one is advised to leave the keys with, as in this case, the cafe owner??? Don't some insurers provide onward transportation for the vehicle occupants???

 

[Mr Bump]

tp be honest that whole story sounds more like a crock of turds

 

[wyx087]

Googled the name of her insurance company on her mobile.... I don't know the detail other than the website she used had a 'click & call' tab which she activated

My guess is that she clicked on the Google advert rather than the real website. No matter how much search engine optimisation the scammers can do, the sheer volume of people clicking the correct long-standing website will make sure the correct website shows up first in search engines. But adverts are another matter, scammer often pay for adverts to ensure their result shows up above the real website.

NEVER click on adverts, always double check the website URL before doing anything.

 

[munch]

I have my insurance company's phone number on my phone. Seems the logical thing to do for me.

 

[woof woof]

No disrespect meant but did this really happen to a friend of a friend? Really? Actually really happened?

On the general point, I just can't imagine leaving my car keys with a cafe owner or anyone else. I'm also not a fan of leaving links and passwords on mobile phones either. My nephews wife does this and went into meltdown when her phone which she does the banking on was picked out of her bag in the local Morrisons. Luckily my nephew phoned the thief and they answered and when he told them the phone was tracked and the police would be called unless they brought it back unbelievably the woman who'd stolen it did bring it back. Even more unbelievably he let her go.

 

[JohnC6]

No disrespect meant but did this really happen to a friend of a friend? Really? Actually really happened?

On the general point, I just can't imagine leaving my car keys with a cafe owner or anyone else. I'm also not a fan of leaving links and passwords on mobile phones either. My nephews wife does this and went into meltdown when her phone which she does the banking on was picked out of her bag in the local Morrisons. Luckily my nephew phoned the thief and they answered and when he told them the phone was tracked and the police would be called unless they brought it back unbelievably the woman who'd stolen it did bring it back. Even more unbelievably he let her go.

Interesting account about your nephew's wife.

Yes,I can absolutely assure you that the scam story is genuine. The link I attached (Express story) outlines this scam and shows that it does happen.
When I said that stories aren't always related in the exact way they happened I was referring to how the lady came to click on a 'click & call' tab on the Sainbury's website and the post by wyx087 has a good explanation. So, re a friend of my wife's friend. I see it's actually the cousin of her friend. My mistake. It happened in Cardiff where my wife's friend lives. To help you appreciate that it's genuine my wife belongs to a restricted forum..it's by invitation only. So a member would introduce a new member. On two occasions a number of these ladies have been to our house and had a a buffet get-together. Pretty well all of them are retired professionals. Infact, this particular lady is held in high regard on the forum.

As I said in my opening, I've never heard of this scam before so I can see why you would question it . So, with that in mind, I've just spoken to my wife and as there is nothing in the posts below to ID anyone or the forum she's kindly forwarded me two posts by her friend which have been taken off that forum. I stood by my wife at her computer as she read it out to me yesterday so I didn't see that her friend had actually mentioned the Express report about this scam. I wanted to know exactly how it could have happened and Googled it and up came the same Express report.

So.. here are the two posts:

I arranged to meet my cousin for coffee last Friday morning .She rang to say she had been in a car accident where a woman had driven into the back of her car .She sounded very shaken but said she would join me at the coffee shop soon...when she arrived she was on the phone to her insurance company .
she then left her car parked outside the coffee shop and left her car keys with the owner who is a friend of ours .

The insurance company were arranging for the car to be taken straight to the garage ..she was expecting a courtesy car that evening...the courtesy car did not arrive and she began to ring the insurance company...no reply ..no courtesy car ..she had been scammed.

When the accident occurred she googled her insurance company on her phone the telephone number was on the web site and she rang and thought she was speaking to her insurance company...she was not ...it was a scam company .Her genuine insurance company has been helpful but until she can locate where her car is they can do nothing ...there is an article in the Express news paper where they say always have your insurance contact number in your phone or in your car ...there are scammers setting up web sites to look genuine and they then take your car and all your details ..we need to alway have our contact number for our car insurance with us in the car or in our phone

The lady soon posted a second post.

I am sorry I have not explained well ..

The person who drove into her was perfectly genuine and it was an accident.For some reason my cousin googled her own insurance company to tell them immediately about the accident...why she just didn't wait until she got home to ring her insurance with her documents in front of her I dont know !

She thought she would find the telephone number to ring by googling her insurance...the name of the company, which was Sainsburys came up with a button saying click and call which she did ...it was not Sainsbury's car insurance but a scam site ...I have not heard of this before but this afternoon have put my car insurance details in my phone...but I think I would always give my name and number to the person involved in the accident but I would go home to ring my insurance company ..hope that is clearer..

There you have it, Alan. It's definitely genuine. Are you reassured ?

 

[woof woof]

Why would I question it? Because the whole thing just doesn't add up for me.

The perpetrators of this scam would have no idea where their victims would be so would need contacts all over the country they could call on to collect crashed cars and presumably drive or tow them away at pretty short notice? And there'd possibly need to be two of them, one to drive to the crashed car with a passenger to then drive the crashed car away or possibly help with towing it away. It sounds like quite a crime ring but I suppose it's possible. If the car needs towing away that's a hassle and where are they going to tow it to? Do they repair the cars themselves or break them for spares themselves or use garages to repair or break the cars down and sell them on or ship them off somewhere? That's possible but it sounds like a hassle.

If the car is driveable it'd make things easier but why doesn't the owner drive it home or to a garage or call a recovery service? Do scammers really want accident damaged cars? Aren't there easier scams to carry out?

If this is true then it's true but it seems almost incredible to me on so many levels. But what do I know.

I wouldn't advise leaving open links or personal details on a mobile phones though as they can be stolen or left in taxis or on bar or cafe tables or otherwise end up in the hands of other people and if links are left open then that could make id theft and money transfers easier.

 

[JonathanRyan]

Why would I question it? Because the whole thing just doesn't add up for me.

The perpetrators of this scam would have no idea where their victims would be so would need contacts all over the country they could call on to collect crashed cars and presumably drive or tow them away at pretty short notice? And there'd possibly need to be two of them, one to drive to the crashed car with a passenger to then drive the crashed car away or possibly help with towing it away. It sounds like quite a crime ring but I suppose it's possible. If the car needs towing away that's a hassle and where are they going to tow it to? Do they repair the cars themselves or break them for spares themselves or use garages to repair or break the cars down and sell them on or ship them off somewhere? That's possible but it sounds like a hassle.

If the car is driveable it'd make things easier but why doesn't the owner drive it home or to a garage or call a recovery service? Do scammers really want accident damaged cars? Aren't there easier scams to carry out?

If this is true then it's true but it seems almost incredible to me on so many levels. But what do I know.

I wouldn't advise leaving open links or personal details on a mobile phones though as they can be stolen or left in taxis or on bar or cafe tables or otherwise end up in the hands of other people and if links are left open then that could make id theft and money transfers easier.

It's slightly different, but there are criminals who look for crashed cars and steal them. This is a variation bit seems plausible on that basis.

The usual mo is to cruise the streets of a city in a tow truck looking for cars that have hit lamp posts etc. Hook it up and tow it away. Nobody will stop them because why would they? Even the owner might think it's legit.

Crazy but true: each wheel on a Nissan Micra is worth more than the car.

 

[JohnC6]

Why would I question it? Because the whole thing just doesn't add up for me.

The perpetrators of this scam would have no idea where their victims would be so would need contacts all over the country they could call on to collect crashed cars and presumably drive or tow them away at pretty short notice? And there'd possibly need to be two of them, one to drive to the crashed car with a passenger to then drive the crashed car away or possibly help with towing it away. It sounds like quite a crime ring but I suppose it's possible. If the car needs towing away that's a hassle and where are they going to tow it to? Do they repair the cars themselves or break them for spares themselves or use garages to repair or break the cars down and sell them on or ship them off somewhere? That's possible but it sounds like a hassle.

If the car is driveable it'd make things easier but why doesn't the owner drive it home or to a garage or call a recovery service? Do scammers really want accident damaged cars? Aren't there easier scams to carry out?

If this is true then it's true but it seems almost incredible to me on so many levels. But what do I know.

I wouldn't advise leaving open links or personal details on a mobile phones though as they can be stolen or left in taxis or on bar or cafe tables or otherwise end up in the hands of other people and if links are left open then that could make id theft and money transfers easier.

If you read the Express account again it outlines what the scammers are doing. They get the victim to agree to take up expensive 'services' that the victim thinks are covered by their insurance company.

The article stated that...The Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IEFD) have all issued critical warnings about the dangers road users may face.

They will then offer drivers a range of expensive services such as fixing a damaged car, replacing it with a new model or processing a claim against another driver.

Motorists then agree to these expensive services believing they will be covered by their fully comprehensive insurance cover.

Because these are separate from your insurance, the repairs will not be covered by your policy which will leave drivers forced to pay out thousands of pounds extra.

I'll ask my wife to get back to her friend and find out what happened to the car as I wasn't told anything about that. There was no mention of these extra services being offered.

I agree with you that the story, as told, leaves some gaps but that's the risk of third hand accounts. On the face of it it looks like it was just the car they were after and in that case it's not the same scam as outlined by the Express article. I'll see what I can find out.

 

[woof woof]

Expensive services are one thing and I can believe that as it can all be done on the net with little chance of being caught but a network of scammers nationwide on standby to collect and process crashed cars into profit is for me harder to believe but as I'm not a criminal mastermind all I can do is accept that it's possible although stealing cars to order and shipping them overseas seems like a more lucrative and easier to organise thing to me and I do know that goes on. So, I'm not saying you or anyone else is lying or have been takin in by urban myths on line, it's just that I find this particular scam hard to believe.

Here's a "scam" I once came across.

About 15 years ago or maybe more I bought a car which cost about £35k which was reasonable amount of money at that time but I hated it and I decided to sell it. I was an early buyer and supply was still a bit short so you'd have thought the car would be in demand but I got zero interest and I moaned about this to a friend. "No problem" Says he. "I'll get someone to meet you as you come out of work one night. Hand him the keys and you tell the police you were mugged for your car keys. You claim on the insurance, car problem solved." I politely declined

 

[woof woof]

It's slightly different, but there are criminals who look for crashed cars and steal them. This is a variation bit seems plausible on that basis.

The usual mo is to cruise the streets of a city in a tow truck looking for cars that have hit lamp posts etc. Hook it up and tow it away. Nobody will stop them because why would they? Even the owner might think it's legit.

Crazy but true: each wheel on a Nissan Micra is worth more than the car.

Yup but cruising the streets for crashed cars seems a bit easier than having a network of people on standby to respond to reports and collect the cars wherever they may be. I know that crashed and I'd add to that seemingly abandoned cars that don't move for days on end are stolen and either sold as scrap as is or broken down for spares for sale. That goes on all the time.

 

[JonathanRyan]

Yup but cruising the streets for crashed cars seems a bit easier than having a network of people on standby to respond to reports and collect the cars wherever they may be. I know that crashed and I'd add to that seemingly abandoned cars that don't move for days on end are stolen and either sold as scrap as is or broken down for spares for sale. That goes on all the time.

Dunno. You can be pretty geographically precise when targeting ads on mobile phones. It may be more cost effective to do this than drive around. Have you seen the cost of petrol? Even crimmos need to do cost / benefit analysis.

Also, car parts have gone up at least 30% in the last year so I expect these type of incidents to get more common.

 

[woof woof]

Dunno. You can be pretty geographically precise when targeting ads on mobile phones. It may be more cost effective to do this than drive around. Have you seen the cost of petrol? Even crimmos need to do cost / benefit analysis.

Also, car parts have gone up at least 30% in the last year so I expect these type of incidents to get more common.

Ah. I see. So you don't need a nationwide network you just need to limit the ad to an area you can easily access. Glad to see that location data coming in handy.

I think this highlights the dangers of pushing everything on line and specifically to mobile phones. It's a trend I disagree with because it can disadvantage the most vulnerable and lead to criminal activity.