Fake accident scams on the rise: advice and appeals from the PSP
Since the beginning of 2025, 111 reports have been registered, representing 58% of the total number of incidents in 2024. The victims, usually elderly or vulnerable, are coerced into paying through intimidation. The PSP provides advice on how to avoid these situations and calls for immediate reporting.
The PSP warned this Friday about the increase in scams involving fake vehicle accidents, in which victims are asked to pay for damages for which they are not responsible. Since the beginning of the year, the authorities have received more than 100 reports of this type of fraud.
In a statement, the PSP explains that in these cases the fraudsters approach the victim when they are performing some maneuver – most often reversing -, especially in large commercial parking lots, say that they crashed into their vehicle and demand immediate cash compensation for the damages, using manipulation and intimidation.
Reports of these types of cases have increased and in the first quarter of this year 111 were received, “which corresponds to around 58% of the total occurrences recorded throughout 2024 “(190).
The PSP explains that the victims, usually elderly people, vulnerable due to age, illness or economic fragility, end up being coerced into handing over sums of money using intimidation and/or physical threats.
The victim may be approached immediately, when the victim is stopped inside the vehicle, or when the victim has already started to walk away, in which case the suspect may be followed in another vehicle and the victim may be forced to stop, using light or sound signals or just gestures, to understand what is happening.
Sometimes, according to the security force, there are “situations in which there is no direct involvement of vehicles”, but “the suspect claims a run over, in which the damage allegedly caused was physical or material”, for example, with cell phones or glasses.
After the first approach, the fraudster requests payment for the damages caused (physical or material), pressuring the victim to hand over money immediately, without the need to report the accident and without the presence of the police, and claiming that this way they avoid activating the insurance and deal with the matter more quickly.
Authorities have recently detected the existence of some situations in which the perpetrator presents the victim with an automatic payment terminal (TPS), insisting on immediate payment.
When it comes to damage to a vehicle, while still with the victim – explains the PSP -, the suspect simulates a voice telephone contact with a car repair shop or a communications operator, reporting the damage and pretending to receive a quote, which he then passes on to the victim.
In the last four years, the PSP registered a total of 625 reports of this crime, which last year increased by 47% compared to 2023 (129).
The PSP note also states that the preferred period for this type of crime is between 10:00 and 16:00 and that the preferred locations are commercial parking lots and roads with little traffic flow, which normally do not include video surveillance systems.
POLICE ADVICE – WHAT TO DO IF APPROACHED
Do not make any cash payment for a situation that you are certain you did not commit;
Be wary of approaches in which the scammer assumes the type of plot described above and insistently presses for immediate cash payment;
Be wary of approaches in which the perpetrator does not want to activate the insurance or contact the Police, only wanting payment in cash, offering to accompany you to an ATM;
Do not give your bank card to strangers, nor make any payment using a POS that is presented to you by strangers;
In any situation involving the method described or similar ones, contact the PSP and request accident reporting;
Do not make any payment without first contacting a family member or friend to explain the situation, as this may help to explain the fraud and at the same time create some fear in the perpetrator of the crime;
When you notice that you are being followed by another vehicle, which signals to pull over, preferably do not stop. However, if you decide to stop, do not do so in a deserted place or with little traffic, but rather go to a place that is familiar to you, where you are aware of the existence of a greater number of people.
If you are faced with a similar situation, if possible, try to retain as much information as possible, such as the physical characteristics of the suspect (age, height, clothing, way of speaking, accent, signs, tattoos or others), the name he gives himself by and the telephone number he can provide, the characteristics of the vehicle used (colour, make, model, license plate) and also the characteristics of his companions.
The PSP ends the statement with several appeals, one of which is: ” Always be alert and be cautious in your decisions!”. It also calls on the population to pass on the information to those around them: “As more people become aware of scams, the less successful the scammers will become!”
“The PSP also calls for the reporting of all crimes of which one is aware, whether as a victim or witness, and reminds that the faster this reporting is done, the faster steps will be taken to identify the perpetrator(s) of the crime(s).”
The police also offer a series of tips for the public to avoid being scammed in this way:
- Not making any cash payment for a situation that you are certain you did not commit;
- Be wary of approaches in which the author assumes the type of plot described above and insistently presses for immediate cash payment;
- Be wary of approaches in which the perpetrator does not want to activate the insurance or contact the Police, only wanting payment in cash, offering to accompany you to an ATM;
- Do not give your bank card to strangers, nor make any payment using a POS that is presented to you by strangers;
- In any situation involving the method described or similar ones, contact the PSP and request accident reporting;
- Do not make any payment without first contacting a family member or friend to explain the situation, as this may help to explain the fraud and at the same time create some fear in the perpetrator of the crime;
- When you notice that you are being followed by another vehicle, which signals to pull over, preferably do not stop. However, if you decide to stop, do not do so in a deserted place or with little traffic, but rather go to a place that is familiar to you, where you are aware of the existence of a dense population;
- If you are faced with a similar situation, if possible, try to retain as much information as possible, such as the physical characteristics of the suspect (age, height, clothing, way of speaking, accent, signs, tattoos or others), the name he gives himself by and the telephone number he can provide, the characteristics of the vehicle used (color, make, model, license plate) and also the characteristics of his companions.