To think I've been scammed by motorcyclist?

[HammerTimeNC]

A motorcyclist rode right up to my car whilst I was stationery, and just touched it with his bike, no jolt, and then put his bike down and got off it. I felt he had staged a collision.

He then told me to take photos. Neither vehicle appeared to be damaged.

He asked to see my driver's license, but I refused, however, we exchanged names and phone numbers. When I google the name he gave me, only one site comes up and it is a porn site.

I then got a phone call from someone using a number I dont recognise saying they were from an accident helpline company, and asking if I was involved in an accident and they named the road it happened on. I told them to contact my insurance company and hung up. They tried to call me again and I blocked them.

What should I do?

Possibly. Just give all the information you have to your insurance company and ignore any contact from anyone else. Do you have a dashcam?

Ignore the calls. If this happened locally go knock on a few doors if you can see any ring cameras and ask about footage. We had a staged accident (car backed up into the front of us when we were stationary) and the other car tried to put in a claim. One of the houses had caught it on their front door camera and we were able to show what had happened to our insurer and that was the end of the matter.

I'd also ring your insurer and explain what happened and explain someone is trying to orchestrate a false claim against you and you felt intimidated into giving a name and number at the time but are worried about what might happen next. Be definite about the fact an accident didn't happen but your concerns about fraud. They will sadly deal with this all the time, the fact they have a term for it 'cash for crash'. If the number rings again say you have reported the matter to your insurance company as a fraudulent claim and have video footage of the incident (even if you don't, bluff it, they will know what they did).

@Barleysugar86 by simply informing my insurance company of what happened, will that count as a Claim?

Did you give him the name of your insurance company? If not just ignore.

This is a well established scam where I live (south London). I would just ignore, but asking if anyone has Ring camera footage might give you peace of mind.

@2dogsandabudgie yes, I gave him the name of my insurance company and he repeatedly asked for my policy number, which I thought odd, but I said I didn't have it.

Informing your insurance of this matter will go down as a notification only claim even if neither party claims. And will need disclosing for 5 years after incident date

It will.have the same affect as an open claim. Your renewal quote will increase.

If you haven't already take pictures/video walk about of your car to document the lack of damage. If he claims high speed impact etc there would be marks on the car at the point he claims he hit. Do this ASAP as it lessons the possibility you've had repairs made.

Ours had no impact on our premiums but we could prove it was entirely a fraud on the other parties part so I appreciate this may be different. The other party did try to claim also so keeping our insurer out of it wasn't an option.

I'd try for footage in the first instance as it will put you in a strong position. You could report the potential fraud to the police or IFB, or they may just be able to help advise https://www.abi.org.uk/products-and-issues/topics-and-issues/fraud/crash-for-cash/

You know there wasn't an accident but you may be being set up so you are just reporting a scam really.

This has happened 12 times in 3 days in my area (Surrey) it's the same man doing it. Well there's a group of them. Just go through insurance and don't be sidelined by nothing.

It's a really common scam in certain areas of the country. Report it to your insurance but be very clear to them that you believe you've been targeted and ask that it gets referred to their fraud department.

He can find out her insurance company when he claims for the accident with her details. It doesn't matter that she didn't tell him herself.

There is an absolute wave of this in SW London. Hopefully you can open these links? I'm not sure how it will help you, unless to say to your insurers that these are copycat scams?

nextdoor.co.uk/p/tzjgdZKnxNtf?utm_source=share&extras=MTc1OTIxOTA2NDc1NzM%3D&utm_campaign=1716014370499

nextdoor.co.uk/p/Hmfp2_nGMLbc?utm_source=share&extras=MTc1OTIxOTA2NDc1NzM%3D&utm_campaign=1716014458082

I'm wondering why he went to an Accident Helpline, not his insurer.

I'm also wondering if the man who called me is actually from the Accident Helpline as he sounded a bit similar to the motorcyclist.

Money extortion

Why did you even exchange details if you were stationary. I would have been asking for his details as he hit me!

When my partner had a minor accident with someone we also got lots of calls from helplines asking if we had an accident. This mostly happens when the insurance company are contacted. So if you did not contact them the guy on the motorbike probably did. If there are cameras around tell your own insurance to ask for the footage. You could also appeal for dash cam footage on local apps.

Pass the details on to your insurance company and only deal with them. Sounds very dodgy.

I had that happen to me a few years ago - except I didn't give my phone number so no follow on phone calls.
I reported it to the police on line, don't think I thought of my insurance company.
It was really unsettling - I think I posted on here about it at the time..
I didn't understand the point of it all - but the calls you mention make it start to make more sense

Simply repeat to anyone that calls including the motorcyclist that you will only deal with your insurer. repeat repeat repeat. I suspect he doesn't even have a policy valid and is just going to keep trying through accident claims.
If an accident helpline asks about an accident just say no.

How awful for you. I'm afraid it is a scam. They use these companies as a front as they charge huge extra premiums on things and so inflate claims massively.

I hope you have good photos of everything to show that there was no damage to the motorbike. I suspect if you've given your name and insurance company then your best bet is to notify your insurer. I know that must be galling for you but you don't want a claim to be started against you. You are better off making sure they know its a scam from the outset

There is an insurance fraud helpline. Maybe call them for advice

@Keepthosenamesgoing
Yes, seems so unfair that my premium may rise for notifying my insurer that I was the victim of what I am sure is a scam.

Because gangs of criminals stage accidents and then claim through companies calling themselves Accident Helpline, then they work together with solicitor firms, credit hire firms and engineers to put in hugely inflated claims for personal injury, storage of the vehicle and damage. They're all in on the scam.

They could easily stand to make £10,000 or more out of this one incident. These gangs do operate in other areas of the country as well so if you're not in London then don't assume it doesn't apply to you.

I work in insurance anti fraud which is why i say to tell them to send it to their fraud team - be very persistent that you think you've been a victim of fraud.

Don't speak to anyone except your own insurance company, these fraudsters have no qualms about lying to you about who they are and why theyre calling to try and get information or an admission of liability out of you.

You can also report the suspicions to the IFB (insurance fraud bureau) cheatline: https://insurancefraudbureau.org/cheatline