20s Imprisoned for Fraudulently Claiming 120 Million Won Insurance Payout in Intentional Accident

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] A man in his 20s who deliberately caused accidents more than ten times to collect over 100 million won in insurance money was sentenced to prison in the first trial.

According to the legal community on the 5th, Judge Kang Soon-young of the Criminal Division 10 at the Seoul Western District Court sentenced A (24), who was detained and prosecuted on charges of violating the Special Act on the Prevention of Insurance Fraud, to 1 year and 6 months in prison.

A is accused of deliberately causing traffic accidents with four acquaintances near the entrance of the Gyeongin Expressway in Gyeyang-gu, Incheon, from April 2020, in order to collect insurance money from insurance companies. Due to these crimes, A was indicted in August last year on charges of collecting a total of about 119.9 million won in insurance money over 12 occasions until April last year.

It was investigated that A participated in these crimes at the suggestion of an acquaintance he met at a local youth self-reliance center. The youth self-reliance center is a facility that provides psychological treatment and career guidance to youths who have left juvenile detention centers and have no place to return to, or to marginalized runaway youths.

The court stated, "Insurance fraud undermines the purpose of the insurance system, which is the rational distribution of risk, and shifts the damage to many good-faith policyholders, thereby damaging the social function of insurance. The guilt is not light." It also criticized, "Especially, crimes like deliberately causing traffic accidents involve threats to the body and need to be punished more severely than general fraud."

Additionally, the court considered as unfavorable factors that A committed the crime again during the recidivism period for similar crimes and was one of the main perpetrators. However, it was noted that A repaid most of the fraud money to the victim insurance company and reached a settlement, which was taken into account in the sentencing.

A appealed the verdict.

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