York County man charged in ‘sophisticated’ vehicle accident reporting scheme, AG says

YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) -- Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced a York County man was charged for allegedly carrying out a "sophisticated" vehicle accident reporting scheme. Taofiq Salami, 30, of York Haven, is accused of working with others to get more than $180,000 in insurance payouts after submitting false accident reports involving vehicles he bought and insured, Sunday said. There were instances where he did not receive any payouts. Sunday praised his office's Insurance Fraud Section for thwarting what he called a "sophisticated" scheme. “This defendant concocted a criminal scheme and employed it time and time again, stealing identities and defrauding insurance companies,” Sunday said. “This conduct drives up insurance premiums for law-abiding drivers whose budgets get stretched by increases. Our Insurance Fraud Section unraveled this sophisticated scheme and put an end to it with the filing of very serious charges.” More charges are expected to be filed against others in the scheme as well, Sunday said. One of the alleged false reports involved a 2013 Jeep Cherokee Salami bought with a fake ID, Sunday said. Salami allegedly claimed to have been in an accident with a 2019 Toyota Highlander, which did end in him getting a payout of about $49,000. Sunday said that Salami even used the same vehicles for the scheme multiple times. Salami faces multiple felony charges of insurance fraud, identity theft, forgery, title washing and others. He was arrested and arraigned on charges Thursday while he was in court in Bucks County on an unrelated case. Bail was set at $400,000. The Office of Attorney General’s Insurance Fraud Section is prosecuting the case.