The wife of one potential victim posted on nextdoor social media:
Good morning neighbours, I hope you’re all well. I just wanted to share a scam which is targeting drivers around Croydon especially Thornton Heath area.
Last night at around 9:30 pm my husband was driving by Thornton Heath leisure centre when two mopeds crashed into our car at the same time!
My husband stopped the car and did what you are supposed to do when you’re involved in a road traffic accident.
The two moped drivers, who seemed to know each other, demanded money! But my husband refused, said he was an insured driver and they should exchange details.
They of course refused and drove off. As this was suspicious he contacted the police. This is when he learned about the scam“ crash for cash”… the police explained to him this is something which is going in the area and they’ve been seeing a lot of reports involving mopeds and drivers. Thankfully no one was hurt and not too much damage was caused.
We have contacted our insurance company and I just wanted to share with you all to be very careful of this scam. It always involves TWO mopeds as they’re working together and targeting drivers in our area. It is scary to learn that every other day there’s a new scam by criminals so let’s help each other and share this with fellow drivers. I wish you all the best! 🙂
And it turns out her husband hasn’t been the only intended victim. Responses on nextdoor include:
It’s not always two drivers. It happened at the bottom of our street. One moped driver waiting for (usually) a woman driver to safely cross the ‘give way’ markings and then drive straight into her car. We all heard the bang and rushed out. Caught the guy taking photos of his bike on the ground. He soon scarpered when we insisted he take his crash helmet off so we could photograph him. Got his licence number and reported it to the police. It’s happening everywhere and they’re relentless. Don’t be intimidated by their demands and shouting abuse to scare you. Start videoing them ASAP.
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Similar thing happened to me. Didn’t see any faces due to helmets. I was stationary before pulling out of a close. I saw him coming towards me so I started beeping. He drove into my car and proceeded to push his bike onto the floor and throw himself on the floor as he saw people looking as I was beeping. He was filming from before he drove into my car. I couldn’t record it happening as my phone was in my phone stand unfortunately. Another guy on a moped came behind me and tried to take my phone. I kicked him away and he got on his bike and rode away and came back a few minutes later to check on his ‘friend’. Luckily I had a few witnesses and one had recorded the situation. While she was recording this man threw her phone to stop her from recording… I reported this all to the police and they are investigating further with all the video and photo footage.
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I had no idea about this scam, thank you for sharing. On March 15th around 2:15pm I was driving along Brigstock Road in Thornton Heath, it was raining, I stopped just outside Brigstock medical practice to let a bus pass and a moped crashed into the back of me at speed and with force. I immediately called the police, as I was surrounded by six or seven mopeds screaming that a person is trapped under my car (he wasn’t). I called the police, asked for an ambulance, switched the engine off, picked up my handbag (thought something seemed off) and started filming (riders face, mess he made, bike reg, bystanders etc). The moped rider was lying on the floor rolling around, lots of moped riders saying “you hit him” then a woman who was across the road said to me “I saw you hit him”. I’m quite a level headed practical person, vary rarely fazed so I said to the crowd of people ‘I have dash cam on the front and rear of my car, I was stationary and my cameras will prove that.’ I’ve taken a picture of this person who was claiming his arm was broken and the police and ambulance are on the way. With that, a few people disappeared even the moped rider jumped up and tried to get his bike up. The police arrived with the ambulance super quick. I told the police that I didn’t think the rider spoke English. They confirmed he didn’t and I needed his insurance details. To cut a three hour situation short, the police emailed his name, moped reg, insurance company name but no policy details. They said in the email that his insurance checked out (this was not correct). My insurers confirmed he has no insurance so I have to pay £400 excess which I won’t get back. I’ve now been told the moped rider is making a claim against me but of course my dash cam footage is clear that he hit me and I was stationary. My insurers say they will try to get the moped drivers policy number via his solicitor. My question is: Why didn’t the police prosecute him for not having any insurance?. His (redacted by NFCP) delivery was spread across the road so clearly he was working. How have (redacted by NFCP) allowed him to work without insurance?. (Edited – NFCP)
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This has also happened to us. It was exactly as you describe. The rider drove off before we could get his details but we had given ours. We told the police and were contacted the next day by an insurance company on the rider’s behalf. The woman said it had been reported to her by a woman but I said there was no woman involved but the man had very little English. I said I’d contacted the police and the woman said she’d need to speak to her supervisor and rang off. I looked the company up and there are many reports saying they are known to be fraudulent. Do be careful.
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I’d suggest the following. Insurance companies share info to prevent fraud. Take photos at the scene including the number plate/s of the moped/s. Share that with the insurer because if the same number plates keep coming up they will share it with the fraud division of the police.
MPS Thornton @MPSThornton posted CRASH for CASH proactive patrols in Thornton Heath. One moped seized, one arrested. **************RESULT.
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