The Los Angeles Police Department and the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) are warning motorists of a growing problem with unauthorized tow truck operators in the LA area.
These “bandit” tow truck operators monitor police radios and respond to accidents seeking to hook up vehicles and tow them to body shops or storage facilities where they are held hostage until the motorists and their insurance companies pay inflated towing, storage and possibly repair charges to get the vehicle back.
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to: http://www.multivu.com/players/English/70506514-nicb-lapd-bandit-tow-truck-scams/
The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) is warning consumers to be careful when buying a used vehicle, especially one that’s priced “too good to be true.”
The accompanying video describes one such incident. An innocent woman in Lancaster, Wisc. bought a used GMC Denali for $30,000 and for the last two years she has been enjoying its use. Meanwhile, Carfax notified NICB that the Denali might be a “clone” since Carfax had information that an identical Denali was currently registered in Peabody, Mass.
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/players/English/70506515-nicb-stolen-vehicle-clones/
The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) today issued a warning to the public about an organized scam involving sales of vehicles through the popular online market place, Craigslist.
Working with law enforcement agencies in the Chicago area and across the Midwest, NICB has identified nearly 100 instances of sales of vehicles that went sour when phony bank checks were used to pay for the vehicle.
“These scams are well organized and have all the appearances of being legitimate,” said NICB President and CEO Joe Wehrle. “But in the end, the criminal gets the car and the sellers or their financial institutions are left on the hook for thousands of dollars still owed on the car.”
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7523151-nicb-craigslist-auto-sales-scam/
The recent flooding in Texas means the end of the road for an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 insured vehicles that suffered water damage.
That’s the current estimate from Copart, a company that works on behalf of insurers to handle the vehicles damaged in catastrophes. About 2,500 cars, trucks, motorcycles, RVs and other vehicles have already been towed to one of Copart’s locations, a 200-acre processing facility in Houston.
After a disaster, the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) works with its member companies, law enforcement and companies like Copart to identify the vehicles that have had an insurance claim filed and to process them for sale. All of the cars will be retitled with the Department of Motor Vehicles and the new title will indicate the fact that the vehicle has been flood damaged. Most of the vehicles are sold to parts companies who will dismantle them and re-sell usable parts that were not damaged by the flooding.
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7523152-nicb-texas-floods/
The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) is warning drivers to take their keys and lock their vehicles, or risk becoming a statistic. Some 45,000 drivers last year admitted that they had left their keys in the car when it was stolen.
“This may sound like a broken record,” said NICB President and CEO Joe Wehrle. “But the simple fact is, too many people make it easy for car thieves. We repeatedly warn motorists to lock it up and take the keys, but our research shows that in too many cases, that’s not happening. Today’s vehicles have excellent anti-theft systems, but they don’t work if you don’t use them.”
The new PSA, “If Only Cars Could Talk,” uses animated cars to drive home the point that a thoughtless driver may regret the decision to leave the car unlocked with the keys inside because they are only making a quick stop.
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7523154-nicb-psa-warns-of-car-and-cargo-theft/
Holiday car thieves had their busiest day in 2014 on, ironically, Labor Day, stealing 2,200 vehicles according to new data released today by the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). NICB’s 2014 Annual Holiday Vehicle Theft Report analyzes data from the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), which showed a total of 695,246 vehicle thefts for the year.
After Labor Day, New Year’s Day was the next most active holiday with 2,011 thefts. Halloween came in third with 2,010 thefts followed by Memorial Day with 1,933 thefts. Independence Day rounds out the top five holidays for 2014 with 1,877 thefts.
The holidays with the fewest thefts in 2014 were Christmas Day with 1,225 thefts and Thanksgiving with 1,384 thefts.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7523155-nicb-holiday-vehicle-theft-report/
Unprecedented planning by state and local authorities, law enforcement and the insurance industry established what is being called a national model for protecting the public from fly-by-night contractors in the aftermath of a natural disaster.
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), preparation in advance of the F-5 tornado that devastated the city of Moore and surrounding areas in May 2013 resulted in a well-coordinated effort to ensure that roofers and other contractors who swarmed into the area in the hours and days after the storm were properly licensed, insured and authorized to work in the area.
Local police assisted the Oklahoma Insurance Department Fraud Unit in patrolling the area and keeping suspected fraudulent out-of-state contractors from doing work unless all protocols were followed.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7665251-nicb-limited-fraud-following-2013-moore-tornado/
The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) was given exclusive access to a 1981 Ferrari GTSI recovered at the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach earlier this month.
The car, one of 1,743 of that model made in 1981, was stolen in 1987 from Newport Beach, Calif., while on consignment at a dealership. The vehicle identification number (VIN) was later switched to the VIN of a 1982 Ferrari that had already been exported to Norway in 2005. When the vehicle arrived at the port, it was headed from Texas to Poland.
Working with Customs and Border Protection, the California Highway Patrol and Ferrari representatives, NICB was able to determine the true identity of the car and to recover the original theft report filed with Newport Beach Police in 1987. NICB records showed only 12 stolen red Ferraris still unrecovered at this time.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7665252-nicb-stolen-ferrari/
The Albuquerque, N.M. metropolitan statistical area (MSA) had the highest per capita auto theft rate in 2016 according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s (NICB) latest Hot Spots report.
Hot Spots examines vehicle theft data obtained from the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) for each of the nation’s MSAs. MSAs are designated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and often include areas much larger than the cities for which they are named. For example, this year’s number one spot, the Albuquerque, N.M. MSA, includes all thefts within the entire county of Bernalillo, not just the city of Albuquerque.
To view the multimedia release go to:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/7665259-nicb-hot-spots-vehicle-theft-2016/
Vigilant Solutions, a global intelligence and analytics company serving law enforcement agencies, announced today BallisticSearch™, a new product providing law enforcement agencies with faster and more efficient cartridge case analysis, will be unveiled at the upcoming International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, October 21st – 24th in Philadelphia. BallisticSearch includes portable image capture hardware, cartridge case capture software and ballistics comparison technology. The solution enables agencies to quickly compare evidence from crime scenes to help generate more investigative leads, and potentially identify more suspects and the firearms they use.
Developed using the company’s image analysis and technology expertise, BallisticSearch is designed to be the most efficient system available for analyzing ballistic evidence in both 2D and 3D format. BallisticSearch can process evidence in minutes, while other systems can take hours to process the same evidence. BallisticSearch’s faster analysis will have a huge impact on reducing backlogs. With faster comparisons and potential links established, agencies can generate strong investigative leads boosting their ability to solve crimes more quickly, in some cases right from the crime scene. This will help agencies establish a comprehensive ballistic collection program and ultimately reduce crime rates.
To view the multimedia release go to:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8134351-vigilant-solutions-ballisticsearch-faster-analysis/
Flooded vehicles have finally stopped arriving at the Royal Purple Raceway east of Houston. Some 23,000 now await processing and retitling to be auctioned off for parts or to be scrapped. That is just one of several insurance industry salvage locations where more than 422,000 insured vehicles damaged by Harvey have been taken for processing. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), these totals surpass the number of claims that resulted from Hurricane Katrina (approx. 300,000) and from Superstorm Sandy (250,500).
In addition, more than 215,000 claims have been filed following damage to vehicles from Hurricane Irma in Florida.
These insured vehicles will be processed and rebranded with a salvage title and sold at online auctions to dismantlers who will save usable parts or have the vehicle crushed and sold for scrap.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/76652512-nicb-reports-record-number-of-hurricane-flooded-vehicles/
The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) today released its annual Hot Wheels report, which identifies the 10 most stolen vehicles in the United States. The report examines vehicle theft data submitted by law enforcement to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and determines the vehicle make, model and model year most reported stolen in 2017.
While Honda Accords and Civics produced prior to the introduction of anti-theft technology continue to dominate this report, a deeper look at the data demonstrates just how effective anti-theft technology continues to be. A total of (6,707) 1998 Honda Civics were stolen in 2017 compared with just (388) 2017 Civics. Put another way, (17) 1998 Civics were stolen last year for every one 2017 model.
To view the multimedia release go to:
https://www.multivu.com/players/English/8396151-nicb-hot-wheels-2018-hot-wheels-report/
