The viral insurance fraud attempt that happened on a New York highway earlier this month has had an unlikely star rise out of the situation. The Honda Civic coupe that was used in the attempted fraud crash has been spotted multiple times by users on social media, who discovered that others have even taken to vandalizing the car.
To recap if you’re not up to speed: TikTok user Ashpia Natasha shared dash cam footage of insurance fraudsters in the Civic attempting to get her to hit them while in traffic by slamming on their brakes on Southern State Parkway in New York. When Natasha successfully braked and avoided an accident, the fraudsters then put their Civic in reverse and backed into her, hoping to make it seem as if she was the one who caused the accident. Multiple people got out of the car acting injured, with the driver of the car switching seats before exiting to make it seem like one of the passengers had been the one driving, and another passenger jumping into a Kia Sportage that had been following Natasha to create distance behind her. In the video you can see one of the people from the Civic noticing Natasha’s dash cam after exiting the car, and their demeanor changes. She mentions that they quickly collected her insurance information before speeding off. There’s been no update from her on the situation since the incident occurred.
Despite that lack of an update, keen-eyed individuals on social media have been spotting the Civic at various places around New York, and unsurprisingly given its role in the bullshit fraud that has garnered tens of millions of views, people have been vandalizing the car. In a TikTok posted by @thewild3435, they initially found the car parked along the street on October 21, untouched. In subsequent TikToks from October 22 and 23 we can see piece of cardboard with the word “fraud” painted on that was laying on the windshield, the driver’s side window was busted out, what looks to be a boba tea cup was stuffed in the driver’s door handle, and the back window was covered with another piece of cardboard that had the word “rats” painted on it.
Another Tik Tok posted by @pretty_virgo28 from the same day shows the same Civic with the vandalism damage parked outside an NYPD precinct; @thewild3435 also spotted the Civic at this precinct. The front and rear pieces of cardboard are gone, but the boba cup in the door remains. There’s also a big piece of plastic hanging from the driver’s side door, which was probably used to cover the broken window. What was the car doing at the police station? It would be a wild twist to this story if the owners were there reporting the vandalism of a car that was used in an attempted insurance fraud.
Wanting to know more, I called the NYPD precinct that the car was spotted outside of, and asked an officer anyone had reported the vandalism of the car. I was told, “mo one has been in the precinct to report anything like that.”
Spanish TikTok has been busy spotting the Civic as well. One TikTok posted by @willdtb shows him talking over another video where users have spotted the Civic; he explains he wants to make another Spanish account to get any updates he may miss because he doesn’t know Spanish. Another Spanish TikTok from October 24 shows the same Civic parked in another lot, and uses the hashtag #whereistheredkia — a reference to the red Sportage that was tailing Natasha during the crash and picked up one of the passengers of the Civic after the hit.
It turns out this isn’t the first time these fraudsters have tried pulling this insurance stunt, either. In an Instagram post by @coronavirusny, dash cam video shows another Civic — this time an eighth-gen Civic sedan — doing the same thing that was done to Natasha: the Civic cuts in front of the vehicle before slamming on its brakes, causing the victim to rear-end them. Three people get out acting as if they’re hurt, and if you watch closely, the same red Kia Sportage pulls ahead of the “accident” to collect a fourth person from the car. In the description of the video, the unknown victim says his insurance is investigating the incident.
Whoever these people are, they need to be stopped. We in no way endorse any kind of vandalism on anyone’s car for any reason, but in this case, we totally understand it.