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MBTA Goes After "Flopping" Passengers

BOSTON (CBS) -- MBTA bus riders flop on the floor and look like they're hurt, but "T" officials say it's all a fake.

Cameras mounted on the bus catch it all on tape. You can see the bus sway as the driver tries to avoid a crash, passengers are jostled but no one appears injured.

A second later a man in the back urges his fellow riders to hit the floor. The MBTA's general manager says fraud like this won't fly.

When Richard Davies watched the surveillance tapes he said, "It's obvious when you watch the video these customers weren't injured, I became outraged when the first claim rolled in."

WBZ-TV's Kathy Curran reports.

According to the accident report the passengers claimed they hurt their shoulders, backs and necks.

The MBTA is hoping all of these cameras will deter people from faking injuries since injury claims have been steadily on the rise.

In 2009, there were 952 bodily injury claims costing the T $2.9 million.

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Davies says, "It gets up into the millions and that's the taxpayers' expense. Some claims are legitimate, but in this instance these are not. On behalf of the taxpayers we're not gonna take it anymore."

In another case caught on tape in December there's a slight jolt when a car rear ends a bus. Again everyone seems fine but some passengers said they were seriously injured. Boston Fire and EMS respond.

"Some were taken out on gurney board, that's another taxpayer expense. You have ambulances and firefighters, we pay as taxpayers showing up and responding. I hope this serves as a warning. Look we have technology to find out if this really occurred or not."

A lawyer representing one woman who claims she was injured during one of the accidents tells WBZ-TV if his client was one of the passengers flopping on the floor she better flop somewhere else. He says he's not in the business of making up fraudulent claims and he says the cameras are helpful to protect against fraud.

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