"Deliberate Accidents and Insurance Claims"… Nearly 100,000 Caught for Insurance Fraud

Nearly 98,800 Insurance Fraud Cases Detected Last Year
Increased Exaggerated Insurance Claims from Hospitals and Repair Shops
False Hospitalizations Decrease Due to COVID-19 Admission Difficulties

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] The director of Hospital A was caught colluding with an insurance fraud broker to issue false medical certificates with fake disease codes such as cerebrovascular disease and cerebral arteriosclerosis, allowing the broker's acquaintances to receive large insurance payouts. They registered patients for hospitalization but arranged for insurance claims without actual admission.

As insurance fraud has increased, the number of people caught by financial supervisory authorities last year nearly reached 100,000.

Although false hospitalization cases decreased due to the impact of COVID-19, cases of deliberately causing car accidents or exaggerated insurance claims by hospitals or repair shops have increased.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 27th, the number of people caught for insurance fraud last year reached 98,826, a 6.8% increase from the previous year.

The amount detected for insurance fraud was 898.6 billion KRW, a 2.0% increase from the previous year. The average amount detected per person was 9.1 million KRW, indicating a high proportion of small-scale insurance fraud. Cases where the detected amount per person was 3 million KRW or less accounted for 55.9%.

Insurance Fraud Detection Scale (Source: Financial Supervisory Service)

By type of fraud, false or exaggerated accident claims accounted for 65.8%, intentional accidents 15.4%, and exaggerated car accident damage claims 9.8%.

The occupations of those caught were company employees (19.4%), full-time homemakers (10.8%), unemployed/daily workers (10.5%), and students (4.7%), with insurance planners, medical professionals, and automobile repair workers making up 3.6% of the total.

By age, those in their 50s accounted for the highest detection rate at 24.9%, while insurance fraud among people in their teens and twenties increased sharply by 18.5% compared to the previous year. Insurance fraud among teenagers (10s) is also steadily rising.

Insurance fraud using non-life insurance accounted for 91.1%, while life insurance accounted for 8.9%. Due to a decrease in hospitalizations caused by COVID-19, insurance fraud using injury and disease insurance products under non-life insurance declined, while fraud related to automobile insurance increased.

A financial authority official advised, "If brokers lure individuals into participating in false diagnoses or intentional car accidents, they can become involved in insurance fraud, so special caution is required," adding, "claiming insurance for repairs unrelated to the accident or exaggerating the degree of pain during a car accident can also constitute insurance fraud."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.