A whopping 170,000 car insurance claims in 15 months are suspected to have been scams, according to an investigation conducted by The Insurance Fraud Bureau.
The scams, organised by cash for crash gangs, are a sickening blow to honest motorists who ultimately see their own premiums hiked thanks to the criminal acts of others.
Birmingham is the national epicentre for these crimes with the main hotspots being the B25, B34 and B8 postcode areas of Birmingham, as well as the BD7 and BD3 areas of Bradford. It is hoped that by pinpointing crash for cash hotspots, people would be encouraged to be vigilant as more drivers start to take to the roads or even buy dashcams to help protect themselves, with thousands of innocent drivers caught up in these collisions.
IFB investigations have found single gangs can be behind thousands of orchestrated collisions in some areas, with the combined value of their fraudulent claims running into the millions.
James Dalton, director of general insurance policy at the Association of British Insurers (ABI), told the BBC: "These criminal gangs are often highly organised and put lives at risk.
"The amounts that they fraudulently claim can be huge, and can impact on the motor premiums paid by honest motorists."