Florida Food Truck Bust

Florida officials said they have busted an alleged $800,000 insurance claims scam in which food trucks were used to stage accidents.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater announced the arrests of 15 defendants for their roles in a Miami ring that used lunch trucks to stage more than a dozen accidents and file more than $800,000 in fraudulent property damage and personal injury protection (PIP) claims. Atwater said additional arrests are anticipated. This case is part of a crackdown by the CFO and the National Insurance Crime Bureau against auto insurance fraud in Florida. The division has arrested 392 individuals for PIP fraud in 2011, a 44 percent increase from 2010, and 166 so far in 2012.

The Florida Legislature this past session passed reforms of the PIP system in an effort to further reduce fraud.