Chinese State Media Express Concerns Over Illegal Trade of Fake Death Certificates

Xinhua News Agency reports that forged death and cremation certificates can be purchased online for a few hundred yuan
Used for fraud such as inheritance rights theft and illegal insurance claims... Caution advised

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency warned that fake death certificates are being illegally traded in China and urged caution.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency Capture

Xinhua reported on the 6th that on some online platforms in China, fake death certificates, fake cremation certificates, and fake medical diagnosis certificates are being traded for just a few hundred yuan.

Xinhua stated that fake death certificates are sold online for 280 yuan, fake cremation certificates for 120 yuan, and fake serious medical diagnosis certificates for 450 yuan each. It also pointed out that these fake documents can be easily purchased anywhere nationwide.

Xinhua revealed that its own reporters were able to directly purchase fake death certificates online, and that by providing only the name, ethnicity, cause of death, and other information, they could easily receive a fake death certificate. The fake death certificates even had forged signatures from medical institutions and police stations. It added that the forged signatures and stamps on the fake death certificates are very sophisticated, making it difficult for ordinary people to verify their authenticity.

Xinhua reported that forged death certificates are mainly used for fraud such as inheritance rights scams. In fact, in Chongqing, a woman used fake documents including a leukemia diagnosis and death certificates of two children to scam 90,000 yuan (17 million won) online.

It also introduced a case where someone illegally received 80,000 yuan in death insurance money using a fake death certificate of their father. There were also cases where fake death certificates and fake cremation certificates were submitted to courts to evade legal judgment.

Quoting experts, Xinhua said that forged and fake certificates are used in insurance fraud, inheritance scams, and private disputes,

emphasizing that it is difficult for ordinary people to identify the authenticity of certificates.

Xinhua reported that forgery of important documents such as death certificates results in serious damage to social credit and called for the complete elimination of forged certificates.

It also added that the fact that document names and formats vary by region is a problem and that a unified document information management system should be established.

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