Scumbags posing as car insurance brokers sell fraudulent car insurance policies to poor people. Then the cops tow the poor people's cars and tell them the only way to get their car back is to be the high bidder when the seized car is auctioned.
From Juan Thompson's Intercept article:
Bogus agents exploit the need for cheaper policies by selling insurance that's too good to be true, leaving victims financially exposed, for example, in the case of an accident. As if all that weren't enough, the police then turn on the victims of the fraud, who are far easier to track down than the original perpetrators.
"You have a blend of crooked agents selling innocent, squeezed drivers bogus policies and insurance cards, and high insurance premiums," said James Quiggle of the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, a group that receives funding from insurance companies.
