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Just in time for Halloween: Here comes a scam that’ll scare the bumper off you … and send shivers through your insurance premium.
A driver on the Belt Parkway in Queens heading east toward Long Island has shared a chaotic dashcam video of another car full of passengers cutting her off on the highway and reversing into the driver’s car — and then seemingly fake injuries before noticing the dashboard camera on the target driver’s vehicle.
At 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Ashpia Natasha was driving on the three-lane parkway when a silver Honda Civic abruptly merged from the center lane into the left, cutting her off, and then slammed on its brakes, as seen in video footage of the crash that was posted to TikTok. Natasha managed to stop in time and avoid a collision, but the Honda immediately popped the car into reverse and slammed into Natasha’s car.
In the 69-second video, four people emerge from the Honda, holding their heads and appearing bewildered, but with phones in their hand, taking photos and seeming to make phone calls. One person in the group stares directly into the camera on Natasha’s dashboard.
@ashpianatasha4 Insurance fraud attempt in Queens, NY 10-16-2024 PART 1 I was driving in the left lane of the Belt Parkway going East bound towards the Southern State Parkway. The silver Honda (LBB 8917) was in the middle lane, and they cut me off and slammed on the brakes coming to a full stop hoping I would hit them. I did not hit their car and because of that they reversed into my car for collision and acted as if they were injured while coming out of their vehicle. I believe the intention was to say I hit their car for insurance fraud purposes. They had a tarp covering the rear windshield which fell off once they hit my car. You can see the driver is a male wearing a hat and you can see him switching to the passenger seat as well as the movement of the car before anyone gets out. The first three passengers exit the car pretending to be hurt, while the fourth passenger who was driving slips out through the passenger seat and gets into a second vehicle. That second vehicle was a red KIA SUV (KJH 3340) which was following me from behind and keeping distance so they wouldn't slam into me. The red KIA drove around and picked up the driver to get away. The remaining three people’s demeanor changed once one of them noticed the dashcam. They only came out of the car with their phones ready to record the damage to both cars. They were quick to ask for my insurance and quickly left after the exchange. I called the police at the time of the incident and reported it as an accident, and the police told me they no longer go to an accident if no one is injured and they are willing to exchange information. I did not realize at the time that the driver switched and left in another car or that it was a set-up as I was driving by myself, and everything happened so fast. #queensny #car #caraccident #exposed #newyork #brooklynny @nbcnews @abcnews @nypd @geico @allstate @pix11ny ♬ original sound – Ashpia Natasha
“I just got into an accident, I don’t know what’s happening,” Natasha told her husband through the car’s speakerphone (they were on the phone together and speaking casually as the incident took place). “This guy just reversed into me, what the hell is going on?”
A red Kia, which had been following Natasha’s 2019 Acura RDX, drove up and stopped right in front of the accident and picked up the suspected male driver of the Honda before pulling away.
Natasha also posted a video from the camera she has in the rear of her car. It shows the red Kia following closely behind her before darting into into traffic to get ahead of the wreck.
@ashpianatasha4 Insurance fraud attempt in Queens, NY 10-16-2024 PART 2 I was driving in the left lane of the Belt Parkway going East bound towards the Southern State Parkway. The silver Honda (LBB 8917) was in the middle lane, and they cut me off and slammed on the brakes coming to a full stop hoping I would hit them. I did not hit their car and because of that they reversed into my car for collision and acted as if they were injured while coming out of their vehicle. I believe the intention was to say I hit their car for insurance fraud purposes. They had a tarp covering the rear windshield which fell off once they hit my car. You can see the driver is a male wearing a hat and you can see him switching to the passenger seat as well as the movement of the car before anyone gets out. The first three passengers exit the car pretending to be hurt, while the fourth passenger who was driving slips out through the passenger seat and gets into a second vehicle. That second vehicle was a red KIA SUV (KJH 3340) which was following me from behind and keeping distance so they wouldn't slam into me. The red KIA drove around and picked up the driver to get away. The remaining three people’s demeanor changed once one of them noticed the dashcam. They only came out of the car with their phones ready to record the damage to both cars. They were quick to ask for my insurance and quickly left after the exchange. I called the police at the time of the incident and reported it as an accident, and the police told me they no longer go to an accident if no one is injured and they are willing to exchange information. I did not realize at the time that the driver switched and left in another car or that it was a set-up as I was driving by myself, and everything happened so fast. #queensny#car#caraccident#exposed#newyork#brooklynny@nbcnews @abcnews@nypd@geico@allstate@pix11ny ♬ original sound – Ashpia Natasha
‘Very shady’
“My initial thought … was the I was involved in some kind of rage. Because everything seemed very shady,” Natasha said in a follow up TikTok post, explaining what she believed happened to her.
But when Natasha started talking to the individuals, a man in the group told her that his wife was the driver and that she doesn’t speak any English, she said.
“So we kind of just handled it like an accident,” Natasha said, noting that she and the group exchanged driver’s license and insurance information.
@ashpianatasha4 Insurance fraud attempt in Queens, NY 10-16-2024 PART 3 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08DV51H2X/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
♬ original sound – Ashpia Natasha
Natasha said she pleaded with the group to remain at the scene of the accident until her husband arrived, but the individuals said they needed to leave quickly to pick up a baby. When a tow truck came to check on Natasha’s car, the passengers from the Honda got back into their car and drove away, Natasha said.
It wasn’t until she got home and watched her dashcam video that she and her husband “pretty much confirmed that it was a setup.”
“I’m not really sure if they targeted me because of me or because they saw me driving alone,” she said. “It definitely seemed like this was planned out for a while. Probably not their first time…but hopefully their last.”
Natasha said she reported the incident to the NYPD but was told that police don’t show up to accidents if there were no injuries and both parties were voluntarily sharing license and insurance information.
Top image: TikTok
