Scam or not?

Butterfliesarepretty

My mum who has recently been widowed has received a letter from an insurance company saying that a person who lives on the next street is claiming to have fallen over two years ago on the back of her street (which is unadopted) and is filing a claim for his injuries.

Now two years ago my dad was at home, so was his car (range rover) parked outside the back of the house. And they have never known anyone to fall over at the back of the house.

This letter states it was an accident on a certain date and says it includes photos but it doesnt.

My mums friend who is a solicitor has drafted a letter for her and she has sent it saying she has never known about this and states that she has been recently widowed and was very upset by this. Mum is not revealing details of her house insurance until they provide more evidence. My brother has also taken photos of the back of the street for proof in case it goes any further.

|My mum is scared as she has been through enough lately. My dad went through bladder cancer for four years and we only lost him in december.

What are the chances ?

WhiteHorse

This exact same thing happened to a friend of mine.

Be quite clear: It's a crooked law firm trying it on. Do not under any circumstances co-operate with them. Do not give them your house insurance details. Do not give them a telephone number. If you are using a solicitor, ensure that any correspondence goes through him.

Do not refer again to being widowed or 'upset'. This is simply saying "I'm old and frightened, terrorise me some more".

It might also be worth finding out who actually owns the unadopted lane in question.

lisyloo

Does you mum own this street? or is it owned bu builders and meant to be handed to the council as a public road?

She would only have liability if she owned it AND was negligent.
If she was liable then her home insurance would cover it.
I don't think an insurance company would pay out if it was a "try on".

But firstly we need to understand who owns the land.
I am suprised the solicitor has sent such a letter to be honest.

meggsy

lisyloo wrote: »

I am suprised the solicitor has sent such a letter to be honest.

I am surprised as well

Does the letter give the persons name who is supposed to have been injured two years ago ! ? Very dodgy I think, I would google the name of the Insurance Company first of all.

zagfles

WhiteHorse wrote: »

Do not give them your house insurance details.

Why do you say that? Home insurance invariably covers this sort of thing so why not let them deal with it? If it's a scam they would surely spot it pretty quickly, and if it's not then it's their problem to deal with.

WhiteHorse

lisyloo wrote: »

I don't think an insurance company would pay out if it was a "try on".

Zagfles wrote:

Why do you say that? Home insurance invariably covers this sort of thing so why not let them deal with it? If it's a scam they would surely spot it pretty quickly, and if it's not then it's their problem to deal with.

You would be surprised.

Unfortunately, a lot of insurance companies do pay out on claims like this, simply because contesting them is too expensive and time consuming. Nor does the bogus claimant ever have any assets to recoup their costs from.

The fact that there are so many bent law firms co-operating with scammer claimants shows that it is a lucrative business.

The fact that a negligence/personal injury claim like this will slam your premiums up is reason enough to fight it.

zagfles

WhiteHorse wrote: »

You would be surprised.

Unfortunately, a lot of insurance companies do pay out on claims like this, simply because contesting them is too expensive and time consuming. Nor does the bogus claimant ever have any assets to recoup their costs from.

The fact that there are so many bent law firms co-operating with scammer claimants shows that it is a lucrative business.

The fact that a negligence/personal injury claim like this will slam your premiums up is reason enough to fight it.

Thanks - so what tends to happen if you ignore them? Do they give up?

WhiteHorse

zagfles wrote: »

Thanks - so what tends to happen if you ignore them? Do they give up?

Depends. Some do, but the really nasty ones don't, or at least not for a while.

It's very much like these email and telephone scams - they're fishing. Any response at all is a come-on. I'd wait until a lot further down the line before even replying.

Might be worth the OP checking to see if anyone else has had the same letter. It's often tried on with several neighbours at the same time - these bent firms actually look for back lanes like this, unadopted, with dubious or common ownership.

Butterfliesarepretty

Hi, the name has been given as Gareth Phelan of outwood road, radcliffe and no I dont care that I am giving it out on here. I grew up in my mums house and the 'back-in' as we called it and it has always been unadopted. Nobody else on the street has received a letter and it does not even state where the accident occurred specifically.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=m269az&aq=&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=14.619467,39.506836&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Manchester+M26,+United+Kingdom&ll=53.554389,-2.324249&spn=0.000895,0.002411&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=53.554325,-2.324119&panoid=HSTqGWves4rgH5-65VF-IQ&cbp=12,228.68,,0,5

You can see my dads car is still there. The backin I used to play on as a kid and Ive never fallen over on there.

WhiteHorse

Butterfliesarepretty wrote: »

... has always been unadopted.

Find out who owns it. Land Registry form OC1. Always worth knowing.

Nobody else on the street has received a letter ...

So the targetting is random, unless perhaps there was an obituary notice in the paper? (Yes, they really are that nasty and that crooked).

... and it does not even state where the accident occurred specifically.

As I said, they look for possible common ownership lanes.

You should delete the claimants name from your post! It makes you feel better, and this ... er ... person ... needs exposing, but it's not a good idea.

adamc260

lisyloo wrote: »

I don't think an insurance company would pay out if it was a "try on".

Ever heard of Insurance Fraud... pretty big right now