Car scammers increasingly used right-hand drive vehicles to stage road trips and fraudulent incidents, a pattern reported by an insurance firm. The fraud scene commonly unfolded on winding routes that feature circular traffic patterns. In several episodes, the targets were official taxi fleets, which are typically insured, yet ordinary private cars also became involved. Analysts suggest that fraudsters may have access to illicit databases that allow them to check whether a given car is insured before a scam is attempted.
Yet simply knowing whether a vehicle is insured does not guarantee a payoff for scammers. The real vulnerability lies in driver behavior. Perpetrators seize the moment when a motorist glances to the left to overtake and then brake sharply in front, triggering a collision. Such schemes have been reported in large regions with heavy traffic, including Canadian cities with busy corridors and numerous urban routes, and similar patterns have appeared in other large markets as well.
Experts advise strict adherence to traffic rules and heightened mindfulness during lane changes. If traffic laws permit a right turn from the far right lane, drivers should avoid attempting to slip through from earlier lanes with the hope of gaining an advantage. This caution comes from insurance professionals who emphasize discipline behind the wheel to minimize opportunities for fraudsters to exploit momentary gaps in attention.
To carry out these schemes, operators often use relatively inexpensive cars, frequently configured as right-hand drive models from Japan, such as popular brands like Nissan or Daihatsu. The costs to repair and restore these vehicles after incidents can be high, which makes insurance payouts appealing to the scammers. In many cases, the organizers receive substantial sums—tens of thousands of units in local currency per incident—by exploiting the insured status of the vehicle involved.
Experts note that the same vehicle can be repurposed for multiple fraudulent events. They may perform makeshift repairs using parts sourced from other cars, reducing expenses and extending the car’s life as a tool for deception. This practice enables scammers to influence a large portion of the insurance payout and to repeat the crime with relative ease.
- “Driving” can be read in Viber.