Tow-truck scammers’ devious scheme to talk fearful SoCal drivers’ out of their cars

Tow-truck drivers are taking advantage of shaken drivers involved in car crashes by convincing them to hand over their cars before charging them thousands of dollars to retrieve their vehicles.

A Southern California woman fell victim to the scheme, forking over $3,000 to get her car out of a tow yard after police said she was scammed by a driver, ABC7 reported.

Brittany Williams said she got into a wreck, but before she was able to contact the police or her car insurance provide, a tow-truck driver arrived at the scene.

The driver claimed he was contacted by cops and then talked her into giving up her car.

“He was like, ‘Listen, let me help you, let him help you,’” she told ABC7. “He started giving me this story about how he can give me an estimate — there’s going to be no charge, accidents like this happen. This is why he’s here. The police contacted him.”

After Williams signed a receipt and let him take her car away, she discovered the driver was not sent by police. When she called the driver, the line was disconnected. 

She managed to track the car down at a tow yard, heading there with cops to recover it. Because she signed the receipt, she was responsible for the $3,000 bill to get it back.

An investigation is underway to find the driver.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has warned Southern California drivers of “tow truck bandits” as recently as last summer.

“If you’re in an accident, some tow truck drivers may try to take advantage of your situation. These ‘tow truck bandits’ monitor radio traffic and rush to crash scenes, posing as helpful tow truck operators,” the DA said.

“But once they tow your car, they demand outrageous fees or refuse to return your vehicle until you pay inflated charges. This is fraud — and it’s illegal.”

LAPD Lt. Scott Moffitt gave ABC 7 some helpful tips for avoiding the scam.

“A lot of times they’ll be required to sign something. It will usually be a blank invoice or something like that, so I would strongly encourage the public not to sign those sort of invoices or work orders, tow orders,” he explained. 

“Once a tow-truck driver is not willing to bring you the vehicle to where you ask them to send it, that should be an immediate warning sign to you.”

He also said to look for a clearly visible name or logo on the two truck and take photos of the driver, along with pictures of their license plate and vehicle.

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