On one sunny day a few months ago I parked my car in the parking lot of the Lowe’s store. To my surprise a passenger from a car next to me jumped outside claiming that I scratched her car during my parking maneuvers.

Hmm, I thought to myself. I did not feel any contact or hear any sound of any collision. We both started investigating around her vehicle, which was beaten with missing lights and dents all over, and she pointed to me a 5-inch-long black mark under the door claiming that among all other damage this mark was not around previously. I investigated my car and found no damage of any kind.

I went inside the store to do my shopping. To my surprise, after half an hour, she and her husband were waiting for me in the parking lot demanding my insurance. To avoid further dispute I presented my insurance and received the promise that they will get an estimate and call me. To my surprise, two hours later I received a call from my insurance, investigating my “accident.” I explained that there was no accident and no damage. All recorded and noticed by the agent, I was pretty sure the case was closed.

A year later during my insurance renewal I received a bill twice as much as last year for the reason for the insurance claim for my accident last year. I called my insurance and disputed the reason but insurance informed me that there was a payout of almost $3,000.

The conclusion is — the young couple who claimed this “accident” were our neighbors with local plates. They not only fraudulently extorted money from the insurance system but also hurt me personally. For this story, the golden rule — “don’t do to others what you don’t want done to you” — did not work.