Add The New York Post on Google These fraudsters crashed and burned.
A crew of bozos targeted unsuspecting drivers in a series of staged crashes on busy Big Apple highways — scoring more than $80,000 in insurance payouts before a viral video brought the fraud ring down.
Jaime Huiracocha, 53, and Victor Murillo, 34, will respectively serve at least one year and two years in prison after pleading guilty to insurance fraud charges, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Thursday.
Katz credited the TikTok clip — of a Honda Civic brazenly backing into another vehicle on the Belt Parkway after a near-miss collision — shown to her by her 15-year-old son with jumpstarting the investigation that uncovered three crashes staged by Huiracocha and Murillo.
“This original video, which happened to have been the third incident, not the first, was really key in us identifying, investigating and making sure we had the right people,” she told reporters.
“We worked backwards from that viral video.”
The dunderheads, both of Brooklyn, hatched a plan in which Murillo was behind the wheel and suddenly stepped on the brakes — causing vehicles behind him to rear-end his ride, prosecutors said.
Huiracocha would trail behind in a separate vehicle, communicating with Murillo on when and how to stage the collisions, according to prosecutors.
After each crash, Murillo would climb into a different seat — as passengers involved in the scheme covered the rear window with plastic bags to hide him, officials said.
He’d then slip into a getaway vehicle as his fellow fraudsters pretended to be injured, with dashcam footage even showing the dolts holding the side of their heads in pretend agony, prosecutors said.
The calculated crashes began Aug. 24, 2024, when Murillo, driving a Honda Civic, merged in front of a 47-year-old woman on the Belt Parkway, the DA’s office said.
Dashcam video from the woman’s car shows the Honda braking out of the blue, and four men getting out, including Murillo.
The goons later received $79,000 in personal injury payouts from an insurance company, according to background from a law-enforcement source.
Murillo pulled a similar move on Oct. 3, 2024, causing a tractor trailer truck to crash into the back of a Nissan SUV he drove, officials said.
But the truck’s driver appeared savvy to the scheme, video from after the crash shows. He brushed off a woman’s claims to be the SUV’s driver and called out the apparent chicanery.
“Do you think I’m stupid?” he asked in Spanish at one point.
The SUV’s occupants later received $5,500 in insurance payouts, the source said.
The video from the third crash, which went viral online, showed another Honda Civic driven by Murillo cutting off a 31-year-old woman’s car along the Belt Parkway, prosecutors said.
The woman managed to avoid rear-ending the Honda — but, in a shocking maneuver, Murillo threw his car into reverse and backed into her vehicle.
“Oh my, God, what is he doing?” the woman exclaimed after the deliberate crash.
The Honda’s three passengers then briefly threw a black plastic bag over the rear window to shield Murillo from view, the video shows.
The trio can be seen staggering out of the car, half-heartedly holding their heads as if they’re injured and pointing their phones at the woman’s car.
As they mill around the woman’s car, Murillo can be seen slinking from the Honda and into a red Kia SUV that serendipitously pulled ahead of it, video shows and prosecutors said.
The crash led to an insurance claim for an unreleased amount, prosecutors said. The claim was ready to be paid out before it was withdrawn when the video went viral, the source revealed.
Prosecutors pursued a slew of charges — including insurance fraud, staging a motor vehicle crash and reckless endangerment — against Huiracocha and Murillo in 2025.
Two other fraudsters in the scheme — Maikel Martinez and Ivon Matus-Martinez — pleaded guilty and will be sentenced next month.
Before the last caper, Huiracocha met with his fellow fraudsters inside an East New York medical clinic, giving them instructions on how to stage the crash, prosecutors said.
The passengers were told to send photos of the wrecked car to a woman, as well as to go to a different clinic in Glendale afterward, the prosecutors said.
Huiracocha promised them each thousands of dollars for helping with the crash racket, prosecutors said.
Katz highlighted the sentences for Huiracocha and Murillo during a news conference with Gov. Kathy Hochul, who pushed for car insurance reforms during state budget negotiations in the spring.
New Yorkers pay more than $4,000 a year in car insurance, roughly $1,500 more than the national average, according to Hochul’s office.
Cracking down on fraudulent claims was a big component of Hochul’s reform push.
“The fraudsters have been praying on a flawed system for a long time,” she said. “Over the past five years, the state of New York has seen a tripling, a three-digit increase, in fraud-related staged crashes. In 2023, we had 1,700 staged crashes, the second highest in the nation.”
Hochul said her promised lower car insurance costs won’t happen overnight, but should come to New Yorkers soon.
She anecdotally said one of her staffer’s premiums went down “a hundred bucks.”
“Coincidence? I don’t think so,” she said.
