As hundreds of car accidents occur every day in California, scammers are trying to take advantage of drivers who are faced with a stressful situation following a collision.
“ said, ‘We are sending an emergency tow. We’ll take it to an insurance-approved body shop,’” Angelina recalled, saying when she asked where the body shop would be located, the person could not give her an answer. “This is a tow scam,” the officer told her. “If you had let them take your car right now, you most likely wouldn’t have it anymore. It would end up in a junkyard or they would hold it for ransom.”where tow trucks find out about accidents, often by listening to police scanners, show up, and claim to have been dispatched by auto insurers then pressure people into allowing their cars to be towed.
And the I-Team learned body shops where the cars are towed are also often in on the scam, charging drivers outrageous, even illegal fees to get their cars back.