Friday, September 18, 2009

Beware Of The Latest Ohio Auto Accident Personal Injury Scam

Some Ohio attorneys are reporting that auto accident victims are receiving phone calls shortly after an accident from "police officers," who are asking victims detailed questions about their injuries. Apparently, these "police officers" are providing no identification as to name, badge number, police force, and after the information is provided, the "officer" hangs up.

Here's my take on this scam. Either one of two things are going on here. The first possibility is that the insurance company for the at fault driver is calling and trying to obtain information about your injuries, particularly if you have declined to speak to the adjuster and give a "recorded statement" to him or her.

ANother possibility is that the call was initiated by an unscrupulous medical provider who is gathering information in order to solicit business and eventually convince you to come in and receive medical care. Although this is uncommon, it does happen as I've written about in my book, "Your Ohio Accident" (The book is free and is available on our blog home page by clicking on the cover). My opinion: never, ever take up an offer from any medical providers or attorneys who call after an accident offering their services. These are unscrupulous people running "settlement mills" in order to make a cheap buck off of your injury claim, and they're not looking out for your best intersts. What's more, many of these providers and attorneys are well known to insurance companies because---suprise--the same providers and attorneys show up over and over again as insurance companies investigate these claims.

Here's how to quickly end this nonsense. Ask immediately for the "officer's" department, ID or badge number, and his or her supervisor's name. If an attorney or his or her office staff calls you, ask for the name of the firm/attorney and for the attorney's Supreme Court Identification Number (we all have one as we have to be registered with the Ohio Supreme Court). This will quickly end the phone call, since our Rules Of Ethics specifically prohibit telephone solicitations.

And as soon as you hang up the phone, find yourself a competent attorney of firm to represent you. And I cover that topic in the book as well.

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