8 arrested in fake highway accident scam

EIGHT people suspected of faking accidents on expressways have been caught, Shanghai police said yesterday.

They are alleged to have catapulted objects at vehicles and then claimed that a collision had resulted in a broken mirror on their car.

About 100 people fell foul of the scheme, losing a total of around 80,000 yuan (US$11,400), police said.

Police in Qingpu District began an investigation after a man surnamed Cui reported an encounter with a man driving an Audi on the G15 Expressway on October 21.

Cui was driving from Suzhou to Shanghai when the man in the Audi flashed his lights at him to stop and claimed that a bump had broken his left side mirror.

“I did hear a noise before he stopped me, but when I saw his broken mirror, I told him it couldn’t be the result of an accident with me,” Cui said. “I refused to pay him to settle the dispute, and then he let me go.”

After checking his dashcam, Cui found that not only had someone from the Audi catapulted something at his car when both cars were moving, its driver had also scratched his car with something when he was not looking and claimed it was evidence of their collision.

Police tracked down the driver, a man surnamed Cheng, and also identified another four suspects.

Most victims paid 300 to 1,000 yuan to settle the dispute.

In the course of their investigation, police found a Mercedes likely was also involved in the same kind of fraud. Three more suspects were tracked down.