Police arrested a suspected crash-for-cash conman after a dubious collision in Yorkshire earlier this year led us to an address in Birmingham.
Officers raided the man’s home in Caldwell Road, Birmingham, this morning (13 May) where he was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and fraud.
It follows a collision on the A57 in Sheffield on 25 February that’s suspected of being caused deliberately in order to claim a fraudulent insurance pay-out.
It’s what’s known as a “crash-for-cash” scam – and statistics released by the Insurance Fraud Bureau earlier this week shows several postcodes in Birmingham as being national hotspots for the offence.
The 20-year-old man is suspected of orchestrating the A57 crash; he remains in police custody for questioning.
It’s the fifth arrest officers have made as part of a wider investigation into an organised crime group believed to be behind dozens of deliberate collisions, many of which occurred over a five-month period from November 2018 to March 2019.
The other four, three from Birmingham and one living in Lichfield, have been released under investigation while investigators gather evidence.
It’s thought the group may have pocketed up to £100,000 in bogus insurance injury claims by staging collisions with innocent motorists.
Detective Constable Gareth Homer from our Economic Crime Unit, said: “Offenders will jam their brakes on at roundabouts in a bid to force the following vehicle to crash into them. They will then claim to have suffered whiplash and make substantial insurance claims.
“We are running a wider operation into an organised crime group, alongside the Insurance Fraud Bureau, that may have made millions from this scam over the last two years.”
The West Midlands has been identified as a UK cash-for-crash ‘hot spot’ with Birmingham having seven of the top 30 postcodes identified by the Insurance Fraud Bureau.
Stephen Dalton, Head of Intelligence and Investigations at the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) said: “The IFB has been working extensively with West Midlands Police to investigate a string of deliberate motor collisions involving innocent road users, and today’s arrest marks significant progress.
“Our recent analysis sadly shows Birmingham is the top UK hotspot for ‘Crash for Cash’ scams and we are determined help the police to identify the culprits.