Driving in South Florida is already a risky proposition, but some drivers are making it even riskier -- on purpose.
South Florida is one of the top spots in the country for those out to stage accidents and ripoff insurance companies, according to experts, and the scammers' gain is your loss.
"Money, it's going to cost you money, the insurance rates are going to go up," said Tony Fernandez of the National Insurance Crime Bureau. "Everytime there's a staged accident, money comes out of an insurance company."
Insurance experts say they've tracked more than 3,000 faked accidents in Florida -- 500 in Miami alone -- but detectives believe that they are just scratching the surface when it comes to stopping this fraud, and that organized rings are operating across the area.
"South Florida is primary right now, I think we're number one or number two in the nation right now in staged accidents," Fernandez said.
A special task force has fanned out across South Florida to make arrests but Florida is at the top of the list from across the country when it comes to staged, fake accidents. And finding people willing to get hit is growing.
"They put the word out, they network among friends and associates and people with the lure of easy money," said Carl Zogby, of the Hialeah Police Department. "'You wanna make $500, you wanna make $1,000?' All you gotta do is sit in a car."
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Experts say suspicious fires are burning cars into nothing, and cars are being ditched underwater to scam insurance companies. Police say it causes a danger on the road to you and when your insurance bill comes you are a victim again.
Police say scammers like Grettel Hernandez, Samuel Galino, and even a police officer, Woodward Brooks are in on the fraud. Authorities believe some of the rings could be getting their orders from Cuba.
"We believe this is only a drop in the bucket, an operation of this magnitude that involved potentially 30, 40 co-conspirators, we believe this is a drop in the bucket," Zogby said. "There are many operations just like this one, larger and even smaller going on as we speak."
