This paper presents a case study of frauds committed by offshore companies in the California auto insurance market in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The opportunities for these crimes were created by two factors: the departure of legitimate insurance companies from the market and the adoption of deregulatory policies by state regulators. The case study illustrates some of the consequences of the increasingly common situation in the US in which consumers find themselves abandoned both by government and by legitimate providers of goods and services. The criminal consequences of this situation have also been observed in other markets.