Like many large-scale lucrative fraudulent activities, towing scams frequently require assistance from a variety of individuals who use legitimate businesses to defraud insurers and consumers. While the majority of tow operators are honest, hard-working people, there are some who are brazen enough to perpetrate elaborate frauds that involve tow truck drivers, body shops, parking lot attendants and others.
Some of the more popular scams involve crooked body shops that team up with dishonest towing firms to steal cars that have been in accidents explains James Quiggle, director of communications for the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.
“Towing firms will often monitor police frequencies for crashes. The tow truck shows up and the driver convinces the victim to take the car to a dirty body shop. The car goes to the shop and the insurance company is charged outrageous fees,” says Quiggle. “The repair costs are inflated and sometimes more damage can be done to the car or just shoddy repairs.” The tow company may also charge inflated rates just to tow the vehicle.
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