Framing a car on the road: what is it and how to avoid it
In the article “Kommersant”, discuss what an auto frame-up on the road means, who becomes a victim of swindlers more often and how to avoid such a scam.
Photo: Emin Dzhafarov, Kommersant / buy photo
Photo: Emin Dzhafarov, Kommersant / buy photo
Car frame-up is a situation, when swindlers provoke or stage a car accident for the purpose of extorting money from the driver. Criminals offer to “make a deal on the spot” in order to hide the accident and avoid more serious consequences, they often use threats. As a rule, the rate is made on psychological pressure – swindlers count on confusion and inexperience of the victim.
Autolawyer, lawyer of the public movement of motorists “Freedom of Choice” Sergey Radko:
“Most often such imitations occur on wide, multi-lane highways (the Moscow Ring Road, the Third Ring Road, highways), where there is a lot of shifting and in the dense flow of cars can not see the set-up, who and where is going. But sometimes drivers change lanes three or four times, without looking whether it is necessary to let someone through or not. And for scammers, on the contrary, it creates a more comfortable situation, a wider choice of potential victims. Also drivers should be very careful on crosswalks”.
Potential victims of cheaters
According to Sergei Radko, scammers very clearly determine the psychological type of their victims. As a target they most often choose drivers of not old middle class cars. It is desirable that the driver is in a car without passengers, in this case it is easier to put psychological pressure on him, to intimidate and to get money.
Among the signs that make the car more attractive to fraudsters are:
– The presence of the sign “novice driver” (it is required to stick it on the rear window of the driver with less than two years of experience);
– scratches on the bumper and wings (an indirect sign of inexperience);
– Tinting on the windshield or any visible changes in the construction of the car (drivers of such cars risk to be fined for making changes in the construction, so they usually try not to contact the traffic police).
Popular Car Framing Schemes
Paedestrian car frame-up
Imitation of collision with a pedestrian or a bicyclist. There are also non-contact car-suspension – a cheater falls down near the car, pretending to be hit. A stroller, bicycle or even a child is added to the scheme for convincing. Usually, such auto-frauds occur at crosswalks, supermarket parking lots, and low-speed driveways.
Rolling back or sudden braking
A scheme related to the unspoken rule of “the one behind you is to blame.” The cheater’s car, which is in front of the “target”, starts to roll backwards – a collision is unavoidable. Such setups often happen at traffic lights or in a traffic jam. Scammers can use coarse-grained sandpaper to get traces of the “accident”.
Asking to yield the road
The driver is driving in the left lane, a car pulls up behind him and starts blinking its lights, thereby forcing the driver-victim to give way and move to the right lane. When shifting, the second car, which is often in the “blind spot”, rams the victim.
How to protect yourself from a hit-and-run
The main thing is not to panic and immediately insist on calling the police. If it is a pedestrian car accident, you should call an ambulance. Do not leave the scene. Waiting for the employees of the GIBDD, you need to make a photo fixation of the place and participants of the accident. You can also try to find witnesses. These actions can scare the fraudsters, and they will leave the victim alone. A useful tool in the fight against such scams is a video recorder installed in the car.
Autolawyer, lawyer of the public movement of motorists “Freedom of Choice” Sergey Radko:
“If a setup still happened or there is such a suspicion – they are trying to show you a photo and video, which allegedly recorded your violation anywhere, you should not count on the future support of the insurance company, and confidently act, knowing that you have a policy of MTPL. It is necessary to call the police and tell potential fraudsters, who press the opinion about the uninsured event: let the police sort everything out, and then the court – who left the “scene of the accident”, who is guilty, will the insurance company pay and so on. Swindlers certainly won’t wait for the patrol car to arrive or even make a Euro-protocol. They are interested in getting the money in cash on the spot. The registration of the accident is just unprofitable for them: the insurance payment takes time to check, and the sums are now underestimated. A call to law enforcement officials will sober the crooks, and they will retreat. No policeman would risk to advise to pay money on the spot.
Car Framing on the Road: How to Avoid Fraud
Deliberate car accusations on the road are a reality, not some myth invented by TV reporters and police officers. Every day, thousands of people in our country fall into the trap of insurance fraudsters who frame their car to stage a car accident. This fake accident will be the fault of the car with an unsuspecting driver behind the wheel.
The worst part is that often in such accidents, the driver may not even be at fault, but because of the fraudsters’ actions, things end up turning out badly for the law-abiding driver. This is the worst thing that absolutely any driver can face. Let’s find out how you can protect yourself from it.
Yes, of course, the worst thing that can happen on the road is of course a real non-staged accident. But, nevertheless, in the case of a car accident, the driver will also experience a lot of unpleasant moments. If the fraudsters manage to put his car under the car chosen by the “victim”, as a rule, the unsuspecting driver will be considered guilty.
And you do realize that this is fraught with ruined accident-free history, which is stored in the database of the insurance company, which in turn will lead to the inevitable rise in price of MTPL for a new period. There is also the risk of lawsuits from fraudsters, who are most often recognized by the injured party.
As you have already guessed the creation of an artificial accident (provocation of an accident, setup, etc.) is necessary to malefactors, so that the bodies of the traffic police recognized them as the injured party.
The aim is the same – to get damages from you or your insurance company for the damage, which is either the result of this provoked accident, or was already present on the car, which are used for frame-up. And they do it so skillfully that many criminals can be nominated for an Oscar for acting.
Let’s try to find out how to protect yourself on the road. Our tips will help you identify on the road fraudsters who engage in setups.
Identifying in time the suppliers on the road, you will be able to control the situation and not fall for the tricks of fraudsters.
In order to learn to identify in a stream of cars insurance swindlers need to know just how they set up their car in order to be recognized as the culprit of the accident was the driver of the car they chose on the road.
We hope that our guide and description of the ways of auto-fraud on the road, will help you in time to notice the approaching danger on the road and avoid provoking an accident.
The most common ways of fraudulent auto impostors
Framing at an intersection
Typically, scammers look for their victims at intersections. Usually, scammers stand in a car on the main road before the intersection, where there is a priority of passage for them, and patiently wait for the car that should become the culprit of the accident conceived by them.
Then as soon as the driver of the car that is traveling on the secondary road, after making sure that no one is in the intersection, pulls into the intersection, the rogue driver quickly and unexpectedly pulls into the center section of the intersection.
In this case, most likely, the driver of the other car will not even have time to brake in order to avoid an accident provoked by the intruder. Inexperienced rookie drivers are the most likely to fall for this. Then the fraudsters call the traffic police to registration of the accident, and say they saw the driver of another car, not yielding the way, enter the intersection. Unfortunately, if the victim has no DVR, it will be hard to prove the opposite.
As a result, the State Automobile Inspection will believe the witnesses and most likely will recognize the innocent driver as the one who caused the accident.
Framing by letting another car into the flow
Another common method of car framing on the road. Typically, in this case, scammers catch the driver who falls for the next trick. Fraudsters choose streets or highways that have frequent adjoining secondary roads. As a rule, during the day there is a large flow of cars leaving secondary roads for the main road. Criminals try to choose sections of road where the secondary road smoothly joins the main road. It is in this place that swindlers try to do auto-fraud.
How is this done? Very simple.
Fraudsters are waiting for the moment when a car wants to realign from the secondary road or from the acceleration lane. Then the driver-fraudster signals the driver who wants to enter the road to move into the stream (or just slow down, without a word to make it clear that he is ready to let another car pass in front of him).
But in reality, the scammer is not going to let the car pass. As soon as the car chosen for the scam begins to move into the main traffic lane, the fraudulent driver will step on the gas and block the other car’s exit to the main road in a matter of seconds.
As a result, in 90 percent of cases, there will be an accident in which, with high probability, the injured party will be recognized by the cheater.
Auto-fraud when changing lanes
The most common way to set up a car is to provoke an accident when a car changes lanes. This usually happens on busy city streets where there are 3-4 lanes of traffic. Scammers drive a dummy car through the streets of the city that they intentionally want to set up to cause an accident, which they themselves will provoke.
This type of setup is the easiest way to cause an accident on the spot. This type of frame-up is also hard to prove. Please note that if the fraudsters will provoke an accident while you were laning, even if your car is equipped with a DVR, you will not be able to prove that you are innocent of the accident, because the field of view of the lens probably will not capture the side of the road. How does this happen?
Scammers simply wait for the moment when you, having made sure that there is no one on the side of the car, begin to change lanes. Then, at that moment the driver-crafter will sharply press the accelerator pedal and for milliseconds will be at the side of your car, in which you began to change lanes.
As a result, you are likely to have a fake car accident.
Framing in a traffic circle
There are car framers who like to provoke accidents in a traffic circle. Usually in this place, many rookie drivers often move out of their lane by several centimeters. But that’s enough for the crooks to intentionally put their car in harm’s way. As a result, a driver who drove just a few inches into someone else’s lane at the traffic circle will be found guilty of a fictitious accident. In some cases, fraudsters use another car, which usually has fake witnesses to the accident, who are ready to tell the crew of traffic police, who came to register the accident, that the guilty party was the car which drove into another’s lane when passing the traffic circle.
Abrupt braking
This is the most dangerous, but the most effective way of framing a car on the road. Calculation of swindlers is simple. Many drivers on the road do not keep enough distance. In the end, the task is simple. Catch some driver being inattentive and inconsiderate as a result of insufficient distance between cars.
As soon as the scammers notice that a car with insufficient distance is driving behind them, the scammer driver sharply presses the brake pedal. In this case, even experienced drivers may not have time to stop their car and crash into a car of fraudsters. In this case, according to the rules of the road, the one who did not keep the distance will be found guilty of an accident.
Tips: How to Avoid an Auto Accident
- 1 . When driving on the road, never lose vigilance. Be especially careful on busy city streets. If you notice something suspicious in the actions of the other driver, it is advisable to step aside, or, having moved to the right lane, stop.
- 2 . Always keep a safe distance to the other car. Remember, that the distance should be such, that you could brak suddenly and not get in an accident. Remember that the longer the distance, the more time you will have to react to the braking of the car in front of you.
- 3 . Also be vigilant, controlling the situation around the car, as scammers can work on several cars, one of which can purposely distract you.
- 4 . If you do have an accident and feel that you have a crooked driver, call the police and tell them what you suspect. Also, call your insurance company and tell them about your suspicions. You will definitely get advice on what to do. Also, if you suspect that you have been set up, then by no means agree to draw up an accident on the euro-protocol without the police. Be sure to call the employees of the traffic police, or send the accident to the department of the traffic police.
- 5 . If you suspect that the accident was provoked on purpose, in order to make you guilty of an accident in an illegal way, get out of the car, immediately begin to take pictures or make a video of the damage to your and the other car. This way, you will protect yourself from the fact that there may be more global damage on the fraudsters’ car later on.
Also, after you’ve filmed everything on your phone or camera, take and write down the license number and series of the driver’s license of the driver you suspect of cheating. Also write down the license plate number of the car, its Vin number, and the number of the insurance policy. In addition, your job is to find witnesses to the accident who can indirectly confirm that your car was framed by causing the accident on purpose.
- 6 . We advise all drivers to buy a DVR that is able to shoot from two cameras simultaneously . This will protect you from completely amateurish and impudent setups. Unfortunately, many of the ways of frame-up, which were invented by crooks, created in such a way that the details of the accident did not get on the DVR. However, that doesn’t mean you don’t need a DVR.
- 7 . If you are still found guilty of the accident by the traffic police, but you are certain that you were framed, then file a fraud report with law enforcement . It is quite possible that immediately after the statement to the bodies of the Ministry of internal affairs or the ICR RF, the fraudsters will change their minds to go and demand compensation from the insurance company, because they may be afraid of the actions of the power organs.
Of course our guidance and advice, can not fully 100 percent protect you from insurance fraud on the road, which create auto impostors. But we hope that our instruction will be useful to all drivers, without exception, because being aware of the methods of action of the fraudsters, means to be more protected on the road.
Familiarizing yourself with our advice, in any case, you will be able to reduce the risk of getting into an accident, which provoked an auto-substitute.
