Auto Insurance Fraud Task Force (AIFTF) members arrested 13 suspects on December 17, 2004. Four suspects remain at large. Task force actions included executing ten search warrants in Los Angeles on five law offices, two medical clinics and three private residences.

Previous search warrants allowed investigators to recover items such as fraudulent documents, falsified insurance paperwork, and information detailing many of the staged collisions. Numerous victim interviews were also conducted, as well as photographic line-ups which implicated several suspects involved in multiple collisions.

The AIFTF investigation began in March 2004 after Task Force investigators received information about a staged auto collision ring. It detailed what is a typical maneuver for these types of rings.

Orchestrate a collision

They orchestrate a collision that appears to be the fault of an innocent victim, then file fraudulent insurance claims for financial gain. They typically target vehicles which they feel would be fully insured.

Following the collisions, the parties involved either exchange information with the innocent driver, or the police (usually CHP) arrive and handle the collision report.

Complicit legal offices and medical clinics, typically attorneys and chiropractors themselves, work with the involved parties to indicate injuries on the proper forms and use the fake identities throughout the claim. The attorneys subsequently submit the claims to the insurance companies and refer the suspect drivers and passengers to medical clinics.

Suspects arrested in connection with this scam face various charges from an 85 count complaint, ranging from insurance fraud to assault with a deadly weapon. They all reside in Los Angeles.

The case is being prosecuted by the LA District Attorney's Auto Insurance Fraud Division. Anyone who has information about the whereabouts of suspects still at large, should call the Department of Insurance hotline at 1-800-927-HELP.