A new partnership between state agencies is targeting schemes that cost taxpayers millions.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — New York is expanding its crackdown on insurance fraud through a new partnership between state agencies aimed at detecting and prosecuting financial crimes, including staged car crashes.
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday announced the initiative, which brings together the New York State Police and the New York State Department of Financial Services.
State officials said the collaboration is designed to improve investigations into fraud schemes that can endanger first responders and burden the public.
Hochul said staged crashes have consequences beyond insurance costs, pointing to the impact on emergency personnel who respond to false incidents.
“Look at what it does to firefighters. You get called out from your family dinner table or from what you’re doing in a more emergency situation, be responding to someone who’s having a heart attack,” Hochul said. “You have to drop everything and go respond, putting yourself in danger to a staged accident.”
According to the governor, about 1,700 staged accidents are reported each year in New York.
“You are the front line of having to deal with this spectacle, and that’s why this is so important to make these points here today,” Hochul said.
The new enforcement effort is intended to strengthen the state’s ability to identify fraudulent activity and pursue prosecutions tied to staged crashes and other financial crimes.