Ambulance chasers wanting me to make fraudulent ins claim
Ambulance chasers wanting me to make fraudulent ins claim
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Discussion

wildone63

Original Poster:

1,048 posts

241 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
I had a non fault minor car park bump in a company van (about as minor as its possible to get) 18 months ago,and have started receiving calls out of the blue from an ambulance chasing outfit who identify themselves as Bollin Legal.
Ive told them from the first time they called me that I received no injury or discomfort whatsoever from the minor bump,and that it will be on record with the third partys insurers that I was not injured and if I had been injured that I would have claimed off their insurance company long before now.
These ambulance chasers are claiming that some research which was conducted with crash test dummies proved that a human being can not be involved in a crash at anything more than 3mph and not suffer some form of injury or discomfort,and are saying that they can get me 'a minimum of £1500 compensation if I describe my injuries in the claim form,and you will receive your cheque in 6-8 weeks'.
They have phoned me probably a dozen times in the past few days.
Iam convinced they are knowingly and actively encouraging me to attempt to defraud the other drivers insurance company.
Anyone else ever had this?
Thoughts?

Pica-Pica

16,627 posts

114 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
No, I have not been in a circumstance for that. I would play dumb and get their number, and address and report them. If you are not hurt, you are right to reject their advances! If they are a legal firm, maybe report them to the Law Society. I have had similar issues with energy companies, and said that I was going to record their conversation (my phone has that facility), they got all huffy and left me alone.

Bennet

2,133 posts

161 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
wildone63 said:
Iam convinced they are knowingly and actively encouraging me to attempt to defraud the other drivers insurance company.
A friend of mine recently was given the tour recently of an office who do this, with a view to taking a job there. It was very much as you describe, encouraging people to claim over nothing with bogus statistics and research, and outright lying to encourage claims. "We've been informed of such and such" (they haven't), "there's so much been set aside for you", (there hasn't). He didn't take the job.

Bodged

117 posts

140 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
They use multiple numbers and company names to actively encourage you to make a fraudulent claim. They also phone back all the time and the worst bit is its your insurance company who sells them your data, it should be illegal.

Green1man

556 posts

118 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
Yep near identical story here, calls finally seem to have stopped after 18 months. Most of the time I just hung up but on the few occations I did engage them there was a clear encouragement to commit fraud. "You just need to say you had some discomfort". - " but I didn't" - " are you sure it only needs to be minor" - "No" - " really minor". Etc etc.

I had over 200 calls over approx 15 months. What is really annoying is that I bet a high percentage of people go along with them causing increased insurance for everyone.

fastbikes76

2,450 posts

152 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
I had a pretty large shunt nearly 3 years ago where an old boy steamed into the side of my van and spun me 180 degrees . I did actually suffer pretty bad whiplash and am currently paying £800 for a series of chiropractic treatments for various back issues. I kept getting loads of these calls and i string them along for a minute or so

  • Hi, we hear you have been in an accident that was not your fault ?
Me : oh yes,Terrible accident
  • oh that's fine, we can claim compensation for your injuries. What injuries did you get ?
Me: bad, very bad.

At this point they think they have big bite and transfer me to the claims handler where the same speech as above ensues.

  • Hi, we hear you have been in an accident that was not your fault ?
Me : oh yes,Terrible accident
  • oh that's fine, we can claim compensation for your injuries. What injuries did you get ?
Me: bad, very bad.
Me: so bad I actually died.
  • err, so you were seriously injured?
Me: yup, I died and now I'm dead. How much can you get me ??
  • click... phone goes dead
And that's usually it for a good few months till the next mug company digs up my info. Rinse and repeat, they all go away.


spookly

4,393 posts

125 months

Monday 21st August 2017
quotequote all
I usually just say something along the lines of FRO and hang up. I haven't had many repeat calls.

Bravo-Gaz

12 posts

127 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
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Ashamed to admit, I almost fell for it

I had been reversed into by a BMW X5 (low speed, I was stopped & they weren't looking) claimed off their insurance for a new wing, end of story...

...until about a year later I had phone call from 'Steve' who barely spoke English, at the accident investigation bureau, along the lines of "we spoke to your ins company & we have your cheque ready just need your statement"

Told 'Steve' there were no injuries so I wasn't after compo, "oh but you still need compensation for inconvenience"

"Ok" I thought, "got hit by a BMW, can't remember reg"

'Steve' got the reg from my ins company, for a 1 series (was in fact an X5 that hit me)

Learned the lesson though


Mammasaid

5,595 posts

127 months

Mafffew

2,149 posts

141 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
I just lie and tell them I was drunk at the time. Most tend to hang up and are never heard from again.

Paul Dishman

5,411 posts

267 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
My son had a similar series of calls insisting he was due compo for injury after someone dented his car when it was in the car park at work.
The fact that he was in the office and not in the car at the time, apparently made no difference.

BoRED S2upid

21,069 posts

270 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
Yes we had it for years after an idiot took my wife's wing mirror off trying to get in front of her as 2 lanes went to 1. Obviously she was a little shook up but no injury. These parasites called incessantly for years we had to change her number in the end.

FunkyNige

9,832 posts

305 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
I installed the MrNumber app on my phone after getting these calls constantly - it blocks calls that have been flagged as nuisance/spam.
It would block one a day for a week then they give up.

awlp16

137 posts

122 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
I like to drag these calls out. I have a long elaborate story that lasts about 5 minutes, which ends in me being eaten by a bear, they get really angry about it, as up until the bear part, it's all about driving, so they think they've got a lead...

Edited by awlp16 on Tuesday 22 August 12:04

BigMacDaddy

967 posts

211 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
awlp16 said:
I have a long elaborate story that lasts about 5 minutes, which ends in my being eaten by a bear
laugh

julianc

1,984 posts

289 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
wildone63 said:
I had a non fault minor car park bump in a company van (about as minor as its possible to get) 18 months ago,and have started receiving calls out of the blue from an ambulance chasing outfit who identify themselves as Bollin Legal.
Ive told them from the first time they called me that I received no injury or discomfort whatsoever from the minor bump,and that it will be on record with the third partys insurers that I was not injured and if I had been injured that I would have claimed off their insurance company long before now.
These ambulance chasers are claiming that some research which was conducted with crash test dummies proved that a human being can not be involved in a crash at anything more than 3mph and not suffer some form of injury or discomfort,and are saying that they can get me 'a minimum of £1500 compensation if I describe my injuries in the claim form,and you will receive your cheque in 6-8 weeks'.
They have phoned me probably a dozen times in the past few days.
Iam convinced they are knowingly and actively encouraging me to attempt to defraud the other drivers insurance company.
Anyone else ever had this?
Thoughts?
My MIL is currently going through the same. Utterly disgraceful harassment of an old lady.

donkmeister

12,966 posts

130 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
I usually go through a bit of their patter before admitting I was deemed to have caused the accident, the other driver was killed but I want to claim against his insurance as i don't think it's fair i shouldn't benefit from the crash. All very seriously of course.
Sometimes even that isn't enough to make them hang up...
Obviously I've never had a crash/accident.

scottfraser100

29 posts

190 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
I've had two accidents within one year and have got to the point of changing my phone number. Get calls at all times of the day and at weekends…

It's the same patter where they assume you were injured or want to say you were injured.

Should be illegal

bad company

21,919 posts

296 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
I had similar when my car was hit in a supermarket car park. I wasn't even in it so how on earth could I claim an injury? laugh

I was lucky that the car park attendant witnessed the incident as the driver who hit my car initially denied responsibility.

Derek Smith

49,903 posts

278 months

Tuesday 22nd August 2017
quotequote all
I was hit twice twice by a BMW 6-series. I'd stopped my car in a queue for traffic lights and the BMW stopped behind me then rolled forward into my car, pushing me into the oncoming lane. The car in front of me moved forward allowing me to pull into the kerb. I undid my belt just in time to hit my head on the sunroof catch as the BMW hit me again.

There was a bit of blood but apart from a bit of a headache there were no after effects. I knew about concussion so didn't take pills.

The damage to my car, a Ginetta G32 was remarkably light, less than the BMW. All it amounted to mainly was some new fibreglassing and painting. There was a bit of metal that that had to be fabricated as well and a s/h sunroof catch. The cost was quite low, under £1500 in 1997.

So I was surprised to be visited by a claims assessor. He saw the damage, we chatted about Ginettas and got on quite well. I asked him why the insurance company had bothered. He said that with a rear impact, especially one that had done so much damage to the BMW, and had happened twice, it had flagged up on their computer as suspicious because I hadn't claimed for whiplash.

I said it was because I wasn't injured and he said that it didn't stop most people. I asked him if I had put in a claim for injury would he have attended and he said it would have depended on the size of the claim.

It seems that whilst we can blame these claims companies for their pressure to lie, many people are more than willing to go along with the fraud.