Car accidents are supposed to be that - unplanned collisions. But some scammers stage accidents to get the claims money paid out by carriers, which is causing an increase in suspicious claims, driving up everyone's auto insurance rates. Two examples are the "Swoop and Squat" and the "Drive Down." "For us on the West Coast, we are seeing a tremendous number of new techniques to pull off staged accidents," says attorney Frank Darras, of DarrasLaw in Ontario, Calif. "There are various kinds, like a driver swooping in front of another driver and jamming on the brakes (the Swoop and Squat). Another is when a driver waves another into a merging lane before speeding in and colliding with the first car (the Drive Down)." Although statistics show that such accidents are rare -- in 2012 questionable claims totaled 116,268 out of an overall claims population of 705 million -- that number gives a false impression of the prevalence of such incidents, says Frank Scafidi of the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). Questionable claims are those that insurance companies flag as suspicious and refer to the bureau for investigation. "They are really a minor component of claims but they are very underrepresented," says Scafidi of staged accidents. "That's important to understand. Not all of our member insurance companies elect to send us questionable claims." One reason is that it's difficult for insurers to pinpoint indicators of staged accidents in some claims. Scafidi says it is a "very subjective process" for insurance companies. Suspect auto insurance claims keep increasing But even so, suspicious auto claim rates are climbing. Questionable claims were up 20 percent in the first half of 2012 over the same period the year before, according to the NICB. The hike is more dramatic between 2008 and 2011 - 34 percent.
