Dashcam foils auto accident scam

This "accident" actually took place on Highway 401. The video below shows the view from Herman Sham's vehicle. He appears to come to a stop, and the car in front of him appears to roll backward and strike his vehicle. Sham is seen getting out of his vehicle to discuss the situation with the driver in front, Raguruban Yogarajah. According to Sham, Yogarajah demanded a $500 payment, or he would call the police.

Sham explains in the video that rear-end collisions are generally assumed to be the fault of the driver in back, and that without the dashboard camera, he would have had no way to prove his innocence, and he would have faced an increased insurance premium.

Because Sham captured the event on video, it was Yogarajah who ended up in trouble. According to the Toronto Star, he was charged with fraud, attempted fraud, and public mischief. Yogarajah denied the charges, saying that he was not sure who was at fault, but now realizes that, because his vehicle has a standard transmission, it rolled backward when he thought he was at a stop.

Without the cam it would have been one driver's word against another and who would have believed some would intentionally back into you on the 401? It illustrates how powerless we all are when pulled into a scam like this.

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