[2021 National Audit] Insurance Fraud Detected Nears 900 Billion Won... Recovery Amount Less Than 4%

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] Although the number of people caught for insurance fraud has reached 100,000 and the amount detected is 900 billion won, the recovery rate is less than 4%.

According to the 'Insurance Fraud Detection and Recovery Status' data disclosed by Rep. Yoon Kwan-seok of the Democratic Party, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, received from the Financial Supervisory Service on the 18th, the number of people caught for insurance fraud over four years from 2017 to last year totaled 354,078, with the detected amount reaching 3.3078 trillion won.

The number of people caught for insurance fraud increased from 92,538 in 2019 to 98,826 in 2020. The amount detected for insurance fraud also rose from 730.2 billion won in 2017 to 898.6 billion won last year.

In the first half of this year, the scale of insurance fraud detection also recorded an all-time high for the first half of the year, with 47,417 people and 452.6 billion won, respectively.

Over the past four years, 90% of those caught for insurance fraud targeted indemnity insurance such as automobile insurance. The most frequent type of insurance fraud was automobile accidents (211,815 people, 1.3951 trillion won), followed by false or excessive claims such as false diagnoses or overtreatment (119,373 people, 1.3589 trillion won), and intentional accidents such as suicide and arson (3,781 people, 293.7 billion won).

Although insurance fraud has been steadily increasing, the amount recovered after detection over four years was 126.4 billion won, accounting for only 3.8% of the detected amount.

The annual recovery amount over the past four years remained between 26.4 billion and 37 billion won.

Rep. Yoon emphasized, "The increase in insurance fraud leads to premium hikes, which in turn increases the insurance burden on all policyholders," adding, "Efforts to revise related systems, such as the Special Act on the Prevention of Insurance Fraud, are urgently needed to eradicate insurance fraud."

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