The body that was set up to investigate and fight against fraud in the form of a scam called ‘crash for cash’ has revealed that people who spin this type of fraud can earn around £16,000 per planned crash. The Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) has released figures that show that people who stage a small, low-speed collision in order to claim for personal injury compensation as well as a replacement vehicle and vehicle damage con massive amounts of money from the system. The common problem reached its peak in 2006 when the ‘crash for cash’ scam was costing the UK around £200 million a year.

In order to make a claim, many people who have been involved in a set up crash will use the services of a specialist company known as an accident management company (AMC) in order to claim. An AMC will often provide claimants with a hire car as well as guiding them through what they should be saying to a doctor in order to make a successful claim.

Even those who have been involved in a legitimate crash use it as an excuse to claim more money by claiming that there were more people in the vehicle than there actually were, and in turn they all seek compensation as well. The most common places where the ‘crash for cash’ scam take place is in the north of the UK, with Bradford being the number one spot. Bolton, Oldham and Blackburn are also common places that suffer from repeat crash-forcash scams.