Twittering away to prevent fraud
Iranian dissidents aren’t the only twitterers seeking justice these days. The city of Chandler, Arizona on Friday sent a message to local residents via Twitter to warn about a scam artist trying to stage a pedestrian accident in a city parking lot.
A city employee sent out the warning after viewing video footage of the alleged scam from a security camera. The suspect seems to clearly wait for a car to back up and hit her, and then as the car goes forward to pull into a parking space, she maneuvers in front of the car to try again.
After making what appears to be a call on her cell phone — and a full two and a half minutes later — she falls to the ground. The other oddity is that a women she was with (perhaps a convenient witness?) doesn’t come to her aid until three minutes after the car brushed her.
The driver of the car is unconcerned and walks away calmly.
Passerbys who witness the scene apparently aren’t convinced she’s injured either because they stroll by like nothing’s happened.
She stays on the ground for three minutes and then gets up when police and an ambulance show up. The women was taken away and filed a police report, which should be available later today. Stay tuned to see if any charges are levied against her.
Kudos to the folks in Chandler for posting the warning and for uploading the video. If more cities took such initiatives, fewer people would chance committing these scams that not only raise everyone’s insurance rates but also make it more difficult for real victims to get the help they need.
July 1st, 2009 at 12:28 am
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