An attempt to stage a car crash in Queens, New York was completely foiled thanks to a simple dashcam.

The video was posted TikTok by Ashpia Natasha aka @ashpianatasha4. In the description, she explained that she was driving east on the Belt Parkway in the center lane when an eighth-generation Honda Civic coupe suddenly cut her off. The car slammed on the brakes, probably hoping Ashpia would leave them behind. However, her braking was too strong for the fraudsters because she comes close but does not make contact. Ashpia mentioned that a second vehicle – a red Kia Sportage – was also following close behind her.

Suddenly the Civic lurched forward, stopped, and backed into Ashpia’s car. You can hear her freaking out on the phone with her partner – as she should – because she doesn’t understand what’s happening. This is a significant part of the incident. If you look closely, the Civic’s rear window was covered in what looked like a blanket. Ashpia mentions that it looked like a tarp. The collision with her car caused it to crash. Immediately after the collision, the Civic moves forward and the driver puts it in park. If you look closely, you can see some commotion in the car, which appeared to be the driver of the car – a man wearing a hat – who switched places with the female passenger after the accident.

Four people then got out of the car, acting as if they were injured and in shock at what had happened. The man who was originally driving held his head as he looked at the back of the Civic. Another passenger and the woman sitting in the front seat took out their phones to record the damage to the cars. You almost missed it, but the fourth passenger slipped out and got into the Kia Sportage, following Ashpia; After stopping, the Sportage drove in front of the Cvic.

While the two women recorded, the “driving” man pulled out his phone and walked closer to the front of Ashpia’s car to get a better look at the damage. You can literally see the moment he noticed the dashcam recording before the video ended. A second video released showed the actions of the Sportage following her, likely attempting to move into traffic after the collision so it could move forward.

Ashpia says they quickly asked for her insurance information, which she apparently gave them as she says they left quickly after receiving the information. She says she called the police when the incident occurred, but they told her they wouldn’t come. Apparently they stop responding to accidents when there are no injuries and a voluntary exchange of insurance information has occurred, which is wild. She hasn’t posted an update yet since this all just happened a few days ago, but we’ll keep an eye out for updates.

Staged car accident fraud is big business in the United States National Insurance Crimes Bureau says billions of dollars in insurance claims are paid out every year due to this type of fraud. This is all just a friendly reminder that we should all go out and buy dash cams so that we don’t end up in a situation like this.