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Summary
While burning fires in the LA area, some companies deceived vehicles to the internal empire and charged thousands of dollars for their returns, consumers said.
After Eaton Fire evens out more than 9,400 structures In the Community of Altadan in January, Los Angeles County County Catherine Barger noticed a disturbing Facebook post entitled “Eaton Fire Hall of Smarch”.
A resident of Altadan posts that a towing company called her husband in the middle of the night during the fire, claiming that the city had authorized him to draw their car. Weeks later, they learned that the company had taken the vehicle to Ontario and requires $ 3,000 to return it.
Other residents responded to the post, telling such fraud.
Barger asked residents to contact her if they had suspicious experiences with withdrawal companies Against the background of the fire, said a spokesman for Helen Chaps Garcia, a spokesman for the service of the supervisory authority.
“She thought it was outrageous that only one person had experienced it,” Chavez Garcia said. “As more information came to her office, we realized that there were more people affected by it.”
When Barger contacted the operating group for car insurance fraud in the internal empire, she learned that Ethan’s fire was only the last occasion when the bandit towed the Bandit was aimed at motorists, draw cars to Riverside or San Bernardino shops and then held them for thousands.
“They did it before there was a perimeter before it reached there (the California Highway Patrol) while the fire was still walking,” said the head of the working group SGT. Regina Garai. “Many people have filed stolen cars claims; The towing companies just took them. “
Officials do not know how many cars were deceptively towed.
Last year, a working group – which included the State Department of Insurance, the California Highway Patrol and Riverside and the district prosecutors of San Bernardino County – investigated and blamed 16 people Accused of stealing money, property or personal information in such car fraud incidents beginning in 2022 that the alleged car fraud ring is making false insurance claims for withdrawal vehicles totaling over $ 216,932, the insurance department reported.
In these cases, unscrupulous truck operators responded to the accidents reported, claiming that they were driving insurance companies, the department said.
“(Drivers) are already nervous, frightened, maybe even hurt,” Garay said. The towing companies “would withdraw the car to a body store and make them sign documents, to offer them to ride at home. And then they find that the body store holds its car for ransom … for a big ransom. “
Investigators have no evidence that cases of fraud were related to fire accidents in Ethan, Garay said.
“It’s not that this should be done directly with the case, it just happens to be Bandit Tow Companies,” she said.
The State Insurance Department has warned drivers to look for certain red flags. Truck towing drivers can occur within minutes of an incident, ask the driver to sign documents and then take the car to a specific body store rather than ask the driver’s preference.
Anyone who suspects that a towing company is not legitimate should check it with their insurance company or wait for the highway patrol to confirm it. Drivers do not have to sign any documents on an accident without contacting their insurance company.
Barger’s office said some fire survivors are still trying to restore their cars.
“It seems to me that these fraudulent towing operators operated the survivors of fire during their disaster,” Barger said in a statement. “Those behind this disgusting scheme must be held accountable and tried.”
