<TABLE id=msgUN border=0 cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top> Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Watch out for people faking accidents</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead vAlign=top><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>metalslug84 <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>6:27 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 1) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>44454.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>http://www.asiaone.com/Motoring/Drivers/Story/A1Story20110210-262818.html
Thu, Feb 10, 2011
The New Paper
Watch out for people faking accidents
[photo - WITNESS: Mr Rodney Goh, 55, who saw the 'fake' accident at the junction of Seng Poh Lane and Seng Poh Road, just outside his shop.]
By Amanda Phua
BE WARY of pedestrians who claim you knocked into them and then ask you for money.
Such scams are not new.
The police had warned the public about them in 2005, saying that five cases of people faking accidents were reported between December 2004 and February 2005.
The scam seems to have resurfaced.
Last month, two drivers encountered similar incidents in different parts of the island.
One of them, who wanted to remain anonymous, recounted her experience to her friends via e-mail. One of her friends then forwarded the e-mail to The New Paper. It said the incident happened at Seng Poh Road in Tiong Bahru.
"I was preparing to turn into the carpark when I heard a loud bang coming from the back of my car," she said.
She then stopped the car.
When she got out, she saw a man in his early 30s sitting on the side of the road. He had a few scratches on his knee.
He then called his employer and said he could not turn up for work as he had been in an accident. The man refused to go to a clinic a few metres away, saying that he preferred to go to a polyclinic.
The driver said she offered to call for an ambulance, to explain the accident to his boss and suggested making a police report. But the man "started screaming and asking me to compensate him with money instead".
He also refused to produce any identification, insisting that he was a local and that he had misplaced his identity card. The woman approached customers at a nearby coffee shop for advice.
An elderly couple then approached the driver and told her that they saw him hitting her car before falling to the ground. They insisted that she should call the police. Another patron also told her that it was a scam. When she told the man she had decided to call the police, he left quickly and shouted that she was heartless.
Mr Rodney Goh, 55, who owns a shop near where the incident occurred, told The New Paper that he saw the man walking without problems to a van that was parked about 50m away.
"I've never seen the man around before. I think he was just trying to pull a fast one," said Mr Goh.
The same thing happened to a 44-year-old manager, who wanted to be known only as Ms Ong, early last month.
She was driving along MacPherson Road around 4.30pm on a Saturday when she noticed a man sitting at the kerb.
Said Ms Ong: "He was in his mid 30s and was dressed casually in a T-shirt and jeans. I saw that he was clutching his knee and so I pulled over to ask him what was wrong."
The man replied in Mandarin that he was on his way to work and was trying to cross the road when her car hit him.
Ms Ong then asked him if he had informed his company about the accident. The man said no, then took out a mobile phone and spoke in dialect to someone Ms Ong assumed was his boss.
Ambulance
"He ended the call and told me that his boss told him to see a doctor by himself. So I asked if he wanted me to call an ambulance for him," said Ms Ong.
The man declined the offer.
When Ms Ong asked if he had enough money to take a taxi to the doctor, he said no and asked for $50.
She refused to give him the money, after which the man walked away.
Said Ms Ong: "He was walking quite effortlessly. I had been hit by a motorcycle before so I knew that there was no way he could walk so easily if he had really been hit by a car."
She also explained that she did not want to give him the money, as she could not be sure that he would really go to the doctor.
The police told The New Paper over the phone that there were no such cases reported recently.
According to the Motor Claims Framework introduced by the General Insurance Association of Singapore on June 1, 2008, any person involved in an accident should exchange particulars like names, IC numbers, addresses and telephone numbers of those involved, including witnesses.
A report to the person's insurers should also be made within 24 hours of the accident, regardless of how minor the accident was.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
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Thu, Feb 10, 2011
The New Paper
Watch out for people faking accidents
[photo - WITNESS: Mr Rodney Goh, 55, who saw the 'fake' accident at the junction of Seng Poh Lane and Seng Poh Road, just outside his shop.]
By Amanda Phua
BE WARY of pedestrians who claim you knocked into them and then ask you for money.
Such scams are not new.
The police had warned the public about them in 2005, saying that five cases of people faking accidents were reported between December 2004 and February 2005.
The scam seems to have resurfaced.
Last month, two drivers encountered similar incidents in different parts of the island.
One of them, who wanted to remain anonymous, recounted her experience to her friends via e-mail. One of her friends then forwarded the e-mail to The New Paper. It said the incident happened at Seng Poh Road in Tiong Bahru.
"I was preparing to turn into the carpark when I heard a loud bang coming from the back of my car," she said.
She then stopped the car.
When she got out, she saw a man in his early 30s sitting on the side of the road. He had a few scratches on his knee.
He then called his employer and said he could not turn up for work as he had been in an accident. The man refused to go to a clinic a few metres away, saying that he preferred to go to a polyclinic.
The driver said she offered to call for an ambulance, to explain the accident to his boss and suggested making a police report. But the man "started screaming and asking me to compensate him with money instead".
He also refused to produce any identification, insisting that he was a local and that he had misplaced his identity card. The woman approached customers at a nearby coffee shop for advice.
An elderly couple then approached the driver and told her that they saw him hitting her car before falling to the ground. They insisted that she should call the police. Another patron also told her that it was a scam. When she told the man she had decided to call the police, he left quickly and shouted that she was heartless.
Mr Rodney Goh, 55, who owns a shop near where the incident occurred, told The New Paper that he saw the man walking without problems to a van that was parked about 50m away.
"I've never seen the man around before. I think he was just trying to pull a fast one," said Mr Goh.
The same thing happened to a 44-year-old manager, who wanted to be known only as Ms Ong, early last month.
She was driving along MacPherson Road around 4.30pm on a Saturday when she noticed a man sitting at the kerb.
Said Ms Ong: "He was in his mid 30s and was dressed casually in a T-shirt and jeans. I saw that he was clutching his knee and so I pulled over to ask him what was wrong."
The man replied in Mandarin that he was on his way to work and was trying to cross the road when her car hit him.
Ms Ong then asked him if he had informed his company about the accident. The man said no, then took out a mobile phone and spoke in dialect to someone Ms Ong assumed was his boss.
Ambulance
"He ended the call and told me that his boss told him to see a doctor by himself. So I asked if he wanted me to call an ambulance for him," said Ms Ong.
The man declined the offer.
When Ms Ong asked if he had enough money to take a taxi to the doctor, he said no and asked for $50.
She refused to give him the money, after which the man walked away.
Said Ms Ong: "He was walking quite effortlessly. I had been hit by a motorcycle before so I knew that there was no way he could walk so easily if he had really been hit by a car."
She also explained that she did not want to give him the money, as she could not be sure that he would really go to the doctor.
The police told The New Paper over the phone that there were no such cases reported recently.
According to the Motor Claims Framework introduced by the General Insurance Association of Singapore on June 1, 2008, any person involved in an accident should exchange particulars like names, IC numbers, addresses and telephone numbers of those involved, including witnesses.
A report to the person's insurers should also be made within 24 hours of the accident, regardless of how minor the accident was.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
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