Infamous U-Haul trucking scam nets 43 arrests in two years

It goes like this: I rent. I drive. You crash. They pay.

Forty-three people across Georgia have been arrested for fraud over the past two years for their involvement in an insurance scam that, officials told the Atlantic Journal-Constitution, has become increasingly popular.

The scam involves staging U-Haul truck accidents to collect insurance money, and the Georgia Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner told a reporter that more arrests are expected in the next several weeks.

Those 43 offenders bilked insurance companies out of more than $30,000, only to pay back nearly $75,000 in conviction costs to the insurance companies and the courts, the newspaper reported Tuesday.

Suspects rented a U-Haul truck and purchased insurance coverage for it before driving it to a predetermined location, where another suspect involved in the scheme would wait in his or her own vehicle. That second suspect then crashed into the U-Haul, and the U-Haul driver claimed fault for the accident. Often, one or both vehicles had passengers who claimed injuries. If the scheme succeeded, the suspects got an insurance payout, a spokesman for the Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner told the newspaper.