WASHINGTON — The accidents may be shams, but the felonies would be real.
Long Island Rep. Laura Gillen is taking aim at dopes who have been caught staging car accidents involving unsuspecting drivers in order to cash in on insurance payouts.
On Thursday, Gillen (D-NY) introduced the Stop Auto Fraud Act of 2026, which would make the “crash for cash” practice a federal offense punishable by up to 10 years behind bars, with sentence enhancements for smash-ups causing injury or death.
“This is a tough-on-crime, lower-cost bill that is responding to the surge we’ve seen in these crash for cash schemes that are being perpetrated by hucksters and fraudsters across our country, including on Long Island, that are driving up our auto insurance rates and putting drivers’ lives at risk,” Gillen told The Post.
“I think this is a no-brainer. There should be broad bipartisan support to crack down on this crime and to make our roads safer and lower costs.”
Gillen is teaming up with Reps. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Vince Fong (R-Calif.) on the bipartisan measure, which would direct the proceeds of fines imposed on “crash for cash” schemers into the federal Highway Trust Fund.
New York drivers pay an average of $3,492 per year in car insurance premiums, more than $1,000 above the national average, Forbes reported in July.
Insurance fraud and staged crashes can add more than $300 annually to Empire Staters’ bill, according to data cited by Gillen’s office.
“It’s not just the actual accidents themselves and the damage to the vehicles. It’s also about claims for injuries, for treatments, and in some of these fraud cases, people were getting unnecessary surgery just to make their damages go higher, and so it’s cracking down on all of that,” Gillen explained.
If a staged accident causes serious bodily injury, convicted fraudsters can face up to 20 years behind bars, or life if the crash causes a death.
Gillen was joined in rolling out the bill by Nicholas Díaz-Baquero, a Garden City Uber driver who suffered a back injury in what he suspects was a staged crash.
“We both had our left signals on to turn, and there was no traffic in front of us,” he recounted. “Suddenly, the vehicle ahead stopped for no apparent reason, and a driver coming from behind at a very high speed slammed into both of us. I had no chance to avoid it.
“It’s frustrating and heartbreaking that honest drivers can be put in this position just trying to make a living.”
Last month, Jaime Huiracocha, 53, and Victor Murillo, 34, copped to insurance fraud after staging three accidents in August and October 2024 that netted their crew more than $80,000 in insurance payouts.
“We’ve seen a pretty significant increase in this form of fraud in recent years,” said Kyle McCollum, vice president of government affairs at the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). “It’s becoming a very lucrative and attractive form of auto insurance fraud for organized actors out there.
“It is a highly organized type of crime, and I think it compels a very organized response.”
According to NICB data, reports of staged accidents have increased by 35% across the US between 2024 and 2025, and 52% over the first half of this decade.
DC has the highest rate of confirmed staged crashes in America at 19.79 per 100,000 residents, followed by California (13.18 per 100,000 residents) and New York (11.61 per 100,000).
“It sends that signal from the top down that we’re not going to stand for this type of fraud,” McCollum said of the House legislation. “I think it also provides an additional tool for federal prosecutors. Historically, they’ve had to prosecute this form of fraud more under the wire fraud statute.
“So this actually clarifies and makes abundantly clear that staging a motor vehicle accident itself is a federal crime.”
