Man fakes car injury to extort money from driver

A man who feigned injury and forced a BMW sedan driver to pawn his car for 200,000 yuan (US$32,076) as his compensation has been arrested on charges of extortion, Fengxian District prosecutors said today.

The 33-year-old suspect surnamed Xu allegedly waited outside a bank to look for targets last month and he singled out the BMW owner surnamed Zeng. As soon as Zeng moved his car, Xu pretended he was hurt by the car in the right hand.

Xu, who is much stronger than Zeng, claimed he was a gang leader by showing his tattooed arm and threatened Zeng to give him all the money or his men wouldn't let him go.

Zeng was scared and handed him 4,700 yuan including cash he just withdrew from the bank, but Xu wanted to go to the hospital, saying his injured hand felt very painful, prosecutors said.

A medical examination showed Xu's fingers were dislocated and needed to be set immediately. Seeing the injury was severe, Xu asked for 200,000 yuan in compensation or his men would kill Zeng.

Since Zeng had no money with him, Xu forced Zeng to pawn his car and took away 200,000 yuan. The suspect also wiped out his finger prints on Zeng's car and mobile phone, prosecutors said.

Zeng realized he had been framed and called the police after he remembered the BMW had an alarm system which can report to the driver if the car hits someone.

Xu told prosecutors his right hand was injured and dislocated in an accident in 2010. He left the hand stay injured because he discovered a quick way to make money – by faking car accidents and extorting money from drivers.

He targeted young drivers in luxury cars because these people are rich and tend to solve troubles by money.

Prosecutors said Xu had been jailed for 10 months for faking similar accidents in Jiangsu Province. Earlier in Shanghai, Xu extorted 8,800 yuan from an Audi sports car owner in Pudong New Area.