Every year, there are nearly 6 million accidents in the United States, many of them occurring under fraudulent circumstances. Con artists create accidents or fake injuries to receive insurance payouts, which can often be tens of thousands of dollars. If you’re a victim of this, your insurance rates will go up, which will affect you for years. By understanding the most popular car accident schemes, you can be better able to realize what’s going on when it happens.

If you’re the victim of any of the following schemes, contact an auto accident attorney in Columbia MD to see if you can do anything to protect yourself.

The Drive Down

In the drive-down scheme, the con artist waves at the victim, giving them the green light to turn or move into the intersection. When the victim does so, the scammer speeds up and crashes into the victim. When the police officer comes onto the scene of the accident, the scammer will deny that they waved the victim on. Sometimes, the con artist will claim that they were trying to shoo away a fly in the car. There are variations of this scam, though they all follow this basic setup and end in the scammer claiming personal injuries.

The Swoop and Squat

The swoop and squat scheme requires more than one scammer working together. The “squat” car is positioned in front of the victim. A second car known as the “swoop” will cut off the “squat.” Of course, the “squat” will be prepared for this and will brake quickly, causing the victim to rear-end the “squat.” The “swoop” car gets the name because it will drive away, leaving the victim responsible for following too closely. The variation to this scam includes a third car that drives beside the victim to keep them in the lane while the fraudulent accident unfolds.

The Panic Stop

In the panic stop scheme, the con artist will pretend that they had to quickly stop. They will brake fast and hard, causing the victim to plow into the back of the scammer’s vehicle, and the con artist can claim injuries as a result. Often, multiple scammers will be in the car, and sometimes they will draw blood or harm themselves before getting in the car to exaggerate their claims.

In all of these schemes, the scammers will often wait until no one else is around so that witnesses cannot invalidate the con artist’s claims.