NU Online News Service, May 13, 12:37 p.m.EST

New York City has the distinction of being the nation's numberone municipality for staged auto accident claims, the New YorkAlliance Against Insurance Fraud announced.

NYAAIF said a new analysis of questionable claims from theNational Insurance Crime Bureau reported that 1,304 claimsinvolving staged auto accidents were generated in New York Cityfrom 2007 to 2009. Tampa ranks "a distant second" with 562 claims,said NYAAIF.

Ellen Melchionni, president of NYAAIF commented in a statementthat her organization is not surprised by the findings "sinceno-fault auto accident fraud is rampant in New York City. Criminalsare capitalizing on a broken no-fault system that allows the fraudto occur."

The NICB analysis also found that New York State ranked secondamong all states with 1,680 staged accident claims during the2007-2009 period--a ranking driven by the concentration of fraud inNew York City. Florida led the nation with 3,006 staged accidentclaims. Both New York State and Florida have no-fault autoinsurance systems.

NYAAIF said staged vehicle collisions are a costly part of NewYork State's no-fault auto insurance fraud problem.

These crimes are often committed, the organization said, byorganized criminal enterprises which operate medical mills,predominantly in the New York City area. Corrupt medical clinicssubmit fraudulent claims for treatment that was either excessive,not necessary or never even performed, according to NYAAIF.

"Staged accidents are dangerous criminal activities that targetinnocent drivers with increasingly bold schemes aimed at defraudinginsurance companies, but the ultimate victims are honestpolicyholders who pay more for auto insurance," Ms. Melchionnisaid.

NYAAIF noted that the New York-based Insurance InformationInstitute reported that fraud and abuse in the New York no-faultsystem accounts for roughly 20 percent of every no-fault claimpaid--or about $1,561 per claim. Spread across the state, thatamounted to nearly $230 million in "fraud taxes" in 2009, accordingto the Alliance.

NYAAIF is a cooperative effort by insurance companies in NewYork to educate consumers about the costs of insurance fraud, themany forms fraud can take and what you can do to help fightback.

More information about the group is online at www.fraudny.org for more informationon NYAAIF. Individuals can also call 1-888-FRAUD NY to anonymouslyreport suspected cases of fraud.