Staged Crashes Took 72,540 Euros From Drivers in Six Months, Nearly the Whole of Last Year, and the GNR Says the Victims Are Picked for Their Age

The Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) said on Friday that staged road accidents cost their victims 72,540 euros in the first half of 2026. The total for the whole of 2025 was 77,480 euros. Six months into the year, the fraud has almost matched a full twelve months, and the GNR expects the 2026 figure to end up far above last year's.

The mechanics

The scheme is simple and old. A driver is made to believe a collision has just happened, usually a light contact that never took place or that the suspect engineered. The suspects then press for immediate payment on the spot, framing it as a way to avoid insurance paperwork, police reports and delay.

What the GNR describes as new is the escalation. The statement warns of the "growing sophistication" of these simulations, and specifically of new extortion methods and of direct access to victims' bank cards and codes. In one case in the first half of the year the loss reached 15,450 euros, which is not a cash-in-hand roadside settlement. That is an emptied account.

Complaints numbered 30 between January and June, against 26 in the same stretch of 2025, a rise of 15.4 percent. The number of cases grew modestly; the money grew sharply. The GNR calls the increase in loss size a "substantial worsening", and that is the part of the statistic that matters.

Faro leads, and the victims are chosen

Faro district recorded six occurrences in 2026, the most in the country, followed by Lisboa, Porto, Viseu and Beja. The Algarve's position in this table is not accidental: it has the country's densest mix of visitors, seasonal traffic and older foreign residents.

The GNR is unusually direct about victim selection. "The deliberate choice of drivers over 60 constitutes a central strategy of the fraudsters," the force said. The suspects, it added, exploit emotional vulnerability, the fear of legal complications and less familiarity with electronic payment methods, targeting a group that typically has greater immediate financial means.

That is a description of a targeting model, not a run of bad luck. It also explains why the losses are climbing faster than the case count: a victim who can be walked to a cash machine or talked through a card authorisation is worth far more than one who hands over 200 euros at the roadside.

Where it sits among Portugal's road frauds

Staged collisions are one of several vehicle-linked crimes the GNR has flagged this year. In July the force reported nearly four catalytic-converter thefts a day, a 19 percent first-half rise led by Setúbal. Separately, the tax authority has extended its own fraud warning to phone calls, and the PSP has logged thousands of rental-listing frauds with foreign tenants disproportionately targeted.

The common thread is pressure applied to someone unfamiliar with the local procedure, in a moment when checking it feels rude or risky.

What This Means for Foreign Residents

• Never settle at the roadside. Portugal has a standard form, the Declaração Amigável de Acidente Automóvel, for exactly this. Filling it in costs nothing and commits you to nothing beyond the facts.
• No legitimate counterparty needs your card. There is no circumstance in a road accident in which the other driver requires your bank card, your PIN, your Multibanco codes or a transfer made on the spot.
• Call 112 and let them come. If the other party resists involving the authorities in what they say is a real collision, that resistance is the tell.
• Photograph everything before you move. Vehicle positions, both number plates, the damage claimed and the other driver's document. Damage that pre-dates the encounter shows up in the photographs.
• Warn the older people in your household. The GNR has said in terms that drivers over 60 are the intended target. Most of this fraud dies the moment the driver says the words "we will do this through the insurers".