Drawing on two years of insurance claims and policy data, the IFB has produced a league table of regional hotspots for "crash for cash" activity. In the top position in the latest data is Birmingham, followed by Liverpool, Blackburn, Manchester, Leeds, London East, Oldham, Bradford, London North, Bolton, Sheffield, Uxbridge, Nottingham, Warrington, Stockport, Harrow, Leicester, Chester, Enfield and finally Wakefield.

Typically, in "Crash for Cash" scams, fraudsters drive to busy road junctions and then perform unexpected, unnecessary and dangerous emergency stops designed to cause innocent members of the public to crash into them. Claims are made to the innocent motorist’s insurer, often including several accounts of fictitious injuries from members of the criminal gang. There is growing evidence to show that the proceeds from this type of fraud are used to fund other forms of serious crime including drug trafficking and gun running.

Earlier this year Flint Insurance said that such fraudsters are more likely to involve company vehicles because of the likelihood a claim will be paid out quicker than in a private case, and added that in some cases insurers had seen a 30% increase in suspicious motor accident cases over the previous year.