Where I Stand -- Ruthe Deskin: Fraudulent auto-accident claim hits too close to home

FOR SEVERAL HOURS, even days, I thought I was in the "Twilight Zone."

Most of us can remember the chilling television series that featured bizarre and unusual mysteries. The show was written and directed by a highly talented young Rod Serling.

Serling, himself, might have written the scenario for a scam that was attempted against me.

This is how it went.

A woman reported to the police that I had been the driver in a hit-and-run accident in which she was injured. She had my license number and a description of my car, which led to a visit from a Metro Police officer to investigate the alleged accident.

Having an officer arrive at your door and inform you that you are the object of a hit-and-run investigation is disconcerting and downright frightening.

I was astonished, and it took me some moments to regain my composure.

I asked when this accident was supposed to have taken place and where.

That's when I was glad that I shopped at Vons market.

The so-called accident was alleged to have taken place several miles from my home at the same time I was shopping at the market. My cash-register receipt showed the time I left the market, which would make it impossible for me to have been at the accident location miles away.

Detectives at Metro later assured me it was a fraudulent attempt on the part of this woman to set up the possibility of collecting money from me or my insurance company.

I was aghast at the audacity of anyone who would attempt such a fraud.

Then I was introduced to a book titled "Accidentally On Purpose" by Ken Dornstein, who worked as a private investigator in Los Angeles, where he specialized in the investigation of gangs that stage accidents for insurance companies.

I learned that my experience is not uncommon. In fact, insurance fraud is big business.

"Accidentally on Purpose" is excellent reading and a warning to everyone that no one is immune from the nefarious schemes of scam artists.

The book documents one of America's most peculiar underworlds -- not the traditional activities of organized crime such as drug-dealing, prostitution, loan-sharking, protection or bookmaking. This syndicate has been built from the raw material of faked personal injuries.

The author takes you back to the early 19th century to the times of the slip-and-fall artists. One "Banana Annie" feigned injuries for money by slipping on banana peels on steam trains throughout the Midwest.

Readers encounter the "ambulance chasers" and "shysters" of old New York, who pioneered the personal-injury trade; the accident racketeers of the 1920s; and the excesses of self-mutilation for profit during the Depression.

This book also reports on contemporary accident gangs that have been staging ever-increasing numbers of "panic stops" and "swoop-and-squats" throughout the country.

One entire chapter addresses the "whiplash" culture and the well-organized cadre of shady doctors, lawyers, insurance investigators and sometimes even cops whose nefarious activities support the system.

The author uses the premise of the 1967 Academy Award-winning movie, "Fortune Cookie," as an example of phony personal-injury claims.

In the litigious society in which we live, it's often difficult to separate the legitimate from the fraudulent. People sue over the most trivial matters and often insurance companies pay just to get rid of the nuisance.

It will take concerted action by ethical professional men and women to break the backs of the scam artists -- without being sued.

So our country's esteemed leaders have voted changes in the IRS laws.

Now the taxpayer will be innocent until proven guilty instead of the other way around.

Some of the excessive burdens placed on taxpayers during routine audits have been eliminated.

It's a start, but it's still a long way from making the tax-collection system palatable to taxpayers.

One area that should be explored is the estimated tax required of persons whose earnings reach a certain figure. Each quarter they must pay taxes well in advance of the April 15 deadline, thus forfeiting the use of that money for their own purposes. The estimated tax, unlike withholding, is compulsory. The taxpayer has no choice, and if it's paid late, heavy penalties are added. If April 15 is the date when taxes must be paid, how can the government enforce the collection of quarterly taxes on some citizens and not all?

The media, and rightfully so, is making quite a splash by printing the salaries of some of the state's highest paid public officials. Add perks and it is easy to see where the taxpayers' money goes.

Look down the road and imagine what the drain will be when these $100,000-plus-a-year officials retire.

Thanks to Jim Ignato for this bit of philosophy:

"You know the really great thing about television? If anything important happens, anywhere in the world, night or day, you can always change the channel."

archive