DOJ urged to look at ‘fraudemic’ of staged trucking accidents

We’ve all seen the dashcam videos where a vehicle stops suddenly in front of another, initiating a rear-end crash. Maybe the first time you thought, "What a bad driver!" Now we know, despite how many distracted and downright derelict drivers there are out there, most are no accident. In reality, they're staged to look that way, with the perpetrator playing the victim. They stumble out of the car, feigning injury to milk money from the other driver’s insurance provider. If that attempt fails due to quick reflexes and responsive brakes, the scammer may even reverse into you. (And they would have gotten away with it, too, if not for those meddling dashcams.)

Dashcams may help exonerate the true victims in a lot of these staged accidents, but they are still a pervasive problem involving highly organized criminal rings, many of whom target big rigs owned by recognizable brands with deep pockets. 

The U.S. Department of Justice broke up one such outfit in New Orleans, where everyone was an actor except the truckers being targeted. A “slammer” would sideswipe the 18-wheeler, drive off, and the rest of the crew would act as victims and witnesses. The scam went so deep that it led to a federal witness’ murder. The DOJ indicted 63 alleged participants, including a stuntwoman-turned-lawyer, with at least 50 guilty pleas so far.

Overall, insurance fraud in the U.S. costs up to $308 billion per year, according to Coalition Against Insurance Fraud data. This "fraudemic" directly hurts America's transportation industry, says Rep. Mike Collins (R-Georgia), so he is leading a charge to inflict harsher federal penalties on individuals who engage and assist in staging accidents and the ensuing fraudulent lawsuits and insurance claims.

Collins, who has represented Georgia's 10th congressional district since 2023, introduced the “Staged Accident Fraud Prevention Act of 2025” in April, along with Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas). If passed, these scammers would face up to 20 years of prison time as well as possible fines.

“Staged accidents take advantage of truckers’ high insurance coverage and make them prime targets for criminals looking for a quick payday, saddling truckers with millions of dollars in inflated damages, increasing insurance premiums for all Americans, and driving up the costs for every transported good,” Collins stated. “The Staged Accident Fraud Prevention Act will hold these fraudsters and their co-conspirators accountable and stop the ‘nuclear verdicts’ that are bankrupting truckers across the country.”

More recently, Collins solicited the help of the Trump administration via a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, urging the executive branch to “form a specialized task force dedicated to investigating and prosecuting staged accident fraud.” The letter, co-signed by six other congressmen, suggests a joint effort by the DOJ, Homeland Security, local law enforcement, the Department of Transportation, and the public at large “can help identify and dismantle these criminal enterprises.”

The co-signers include:

• Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas)
• Tony Wied (R-Wisconsin)
• Tom Barrett (R-Michigan),
• Glen Grothman (R-Wisconsin
• Tom Tiffany (R-Wisconsin)
• Jimmy Patronis (R-Florida)

The letter cited several incidents where plaintiff lawyers were allegedly involved, including the New Orleans grift, where one was apparently the operation’s criminal mastermind. New York and Georgia are two other hot spots for staged accidents, the letter alleged.

To complicate matters, Collins’ plea for action suggests illegal immigrants are being recruited into the racket to pay off the coyotes who smuggle them across the border. He cited a 2024 New York Post article that detailed how MS-13 and Russian gangsters have collaborated with surgeons and lawyers to swindle insurance providers. In the scam, migrants are coerced into faking accidents and then getting unnecessary spinal surgery to support payouts of $1 million or more.

Industry reaction

The American Trucking Associations habitually ranks the overall problem of nuclear verdicts—or multi-million-dollar judgments against trucking companies and manufacturers—as a top industry concern. They obviously came out in support of Collins’ recent offensive.

In response to the proposed legislation and letter to the AG, Henry Hanscom, ATA senior vice president of legislative affairs, stated:

“When con artists seeking a big payday intentionally collide with commercial motor vehicles, their reckless disregard for safety puts innocent truck drivers and the motoring public at risk. These unscrupulous individuals perpetuate their selfish actions by filing frivolous lawsuits against honest trucking companies, raising costs for consumer goods and inflating insurance premiums,” stated Henry Hanscom, ATA senior vice president of legislative affairs, in response to the proposed legislation and letter to the AG.  “ATA strongly encourages Attorney General Bondi to crack down on this dangerous lawlessness by establishing a specialized task force dedicated to holding these criminals accountable, and we thank Congressman Collins for spearheading this effort to protect America's hardworking truckers."

OODIA also came out in support, with EVP Lewie Pugh stating:

“Staged accidents are not victimless crimes. These are calculated, premeditated assaults that endanger lives, destroy livelihoods, and compromise highway safety. To add insult to injury, criminals abuse the legal system for profit through false accusations and lawsuits, which contribute to skyrocketing insurance premiums for small trucking businesses.” 

Drew Hofley, VP of sales for Phillips Industries, spoke to Fleet Maintenance recently on the subject. “Nobody can deny the fact that our industry is targeted,” he said, mentioning all the plaintiff lawyer billboards littering major urban freeways.

Nuclear verdicts in general, such as the $108 million judgment against Wabash (reduced from $462 million), and another totaling $160 million against Daimler Truck North America in Alabama are creating an untenable situation for fleets due to “skyrocketing” insurance costs, Hofley argued. 

“For every dollar of revenue that they make, 90 cents of it goes to cover their costs,” he noted. Because many now have to self-insure, he added, the profit margin gets even slimmer.

He also cited a study authored by The Brattle Group’s David McKnight and Paul Hinton called Tort Costs in America that found in 2022, torts in the U.S. totaled $529 billion, the equivalent of $4,200 per household, or 2% of the total U.S. GDP.

“Think about that,” Hofley said. “It's a tax, right? Anybody who says it's not inflationary… they're delusional.”

It’s a topic the retired USMC lieutenant colonel feels very strongly about, as it is a clear attack on the industry he has worked for, the American people he spent decades fighting for.

“If every American knew they weren’t going to get a refund this year, and their tax bill is going to be $5,000, they would revolt,” he argued. “But they unknowingly are paying that right now because of these fraudulent lawsuits.”

Phillips and other trucking technology providers are pushing camera monitoring as a solution. Phillips’ REAR-VU Backup Camera, for instance, has an accelerometer to trigger the recording of events, capturing about 7 seconds before and after an event. Wabash has made it standard on their dry vans.