Metro

‘$taged crash’ arrests

Sixteen people have been arrested for staging six auto accidents in the city to bilk hundreds of thousands of dollars from insurers, authorities announced yesterday.

The defendants allegedly crashed into cars, city buses and livery cabs and filed fake medical claims.

In one 2011 Brooklyn crash, five suspects allegedly boarded a city bus and a sixth smashed a rented U-Haul van into the bus so the suspects could feign injury.

In other cases, they allegedly crashed private vehicles into each other and drove rented vehicles into unsuspecting livery cabs.

The 16 defendants allegedly submitted a total of $331,993.08 in fraudulent claims and now face 7 1/2 to 15 years in prison.

“This all-too-common staged-accident scheme puts innocent lives in danger so perpetrators can rip off the system to make a quick buck,” said state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

The defendants were arrested and arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court.

At a City Council hearing earlier this week, officials said a whopping 36 percent of New York City no-fault insurance claims in 2010 had some element of fraud, a staggering figure that’s increasing rates for all city drivers.