ALBANY, N.Y. - Investigators across the country are trying new tactics to crack down on the old problem of auto insurance fraud. The tools to combat the crime from health insurance fraud mills in New York to "swoop and squat" schemes in California include wiretaps, undercover agents and prosecutors who view auto fraud as organized crime.

In 2001, New York Gov. George Pataki appointed state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer as special counsel to investigate the fraud that has helped drive up New Yorkers' auto insurance premiums to second highest in the nation, second only to New Jersey.

New York Deputy Attorney General Peter Pope, who oversees 100 lawyers and 100 investigators statewide as the head of the office's criminal division, said that simply going after street-level perpetrators isn't enough.

Instead, he's taken an organized crime approach, using wiretaps, undercover agents, and investigative grand juries to nab doctors, lawyers and the "silent owners" of medical fraud mills that bilk the insurance industry out of $25 billion to $30 billion a year.

In many cases, syndicates running fraud operations have been charged under New York's Organized Crime Control Act, a state statute used to go after larger criminal enterprises. Perpetrators are often charged with enterprise corruption, a major felony calling for longer and mandatory prison time. A conviction can carry a sentence of up to 25 years in prison.

Frank Scafidi of the National Insurance Crime Bureau said fraud forces higher rates for everyone, although he and others say there are no reliable estimates of how much it adds to the average consumer's bill nationwide.

In March, an Albany, N.Y., boxer and his family were charged with running a ring that staged minor car crashes and made false insurance claims. Frank Houghtaling, his brother, sister-in-law, father, wife and another woman were named in a sealed indictment after a two-year investigation, prosecutors said. Authorities said the alleged 30 to 40 incidents typically involved unwitting drivers of other vehicles in fender benders. The charges are still pending court action.

In New York City in March 2004, 11 people and seven companies were charged in connection with a scheme that prosecutors said defrauded insurance carriers out of $1 million. Doctors, lawyers and others were accused of soliciting accident victims to be treated at IK Medical, a clinic run by Dr. Irina Kimyagarova.

Once patients came to the clinic, they received a wide range of unnecessary treatments, including physical therapy, acupuncture, psychotherapy and dental care, according to the indictment. The case is scheduled for trial this month.

"You don't really make an impact until you make a jump into clinics and the silent owners," Pope said, referring to the scam organizers who set up bogus corporations and hire doctors to run them. Under New York law, only doctors are allowed to run medical clinics. "Then you also get to the crooked lawyers. We've been able to get a number of them as well."

"If I'm trying to prove the patient in fact didn't have the symptoms he was being treated for, the only way to do that is to find real patients or send undercover into the clinic," he said. "The biggest investigations and those with the widest reach occurred when we were listening in with court approval."

In one common scam, called the "swoop and squat," a motorist is driving along at a safe distance from the vehicle in front of him. Another car will then begin to tailgate the unsuspecting driver while another vehicle will pull up alongside, honking and swerving to draw attention. Just as the unwitting driver is distracted, the car in front slams on the brakes, causing a rear-end collision.

In a recent survey, Miami was the No. 1 city in America for staged accidents and Los Angeles was No. 2, Halberg said. Houston, Chicago and Philadelphia rounded out the top five and New York City ranked ninth.

Since 2000, police and prosecutors in Miami have made nearly 1,100 arrests in cases with fraudulent claims topping $36 million, said Nina Banister, spokeswoman for the Florida Division of Insurance Fraud.

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