"62% of Perpetrators in High-Value Life Insurance Fraud Are Family Members Trusted"

Perpetrator Status (Source: Financial Supervisory Service)

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] In 2015, housewife B experienced financial difficulties due to her husband's business failure and murdered him by putting highly toxic pesticide in a beverage, then fraudulently claimed 450 million KRW in insurance money. After squandering the insurance money on luxury consumption, B remarried, took out a whole life insurance policy with her new husband as the insured, and murdered him by putting highly toxic pesticide in food, fraudulently claiming 530 million KRW in insurance money. B also murdered her mother-in-law using the same method and left her child in critical condition.

It was found that 62% of perpetrators in insurance fraud cases targeting large death insurance payouts were family members.

The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced on the 29th that an analysis of major characteristics of 31 confirmed insurance fraud cases involving large death insurance payouts (over 100 million KRW) over the past 10 years showed that perpetrators who were family members such as spouses (44.1%) and parents (11.8%) accounted for 61.8%.

Following that, extramarital relationships, acquaintances, and creditor relationships each accounted for 8.8%. Occupations were unemployed/daily workers at 26.5%, housewives at 23.5%, and self-employed and service industry workers each at 5.9%.

The age of perpetrators was mainly among older age groups: 60 and above at 35.5%, 50s at 29.0%, 40s at 19.4%, 30s at 12.9%, and 20s at 3.2%.

The gender ratio of perpetrators was similar, with females at 51.5% and males at 48.4%.

Methods of crime included murder by weapons or drugs at 38.7%, disguised as general accidents such as falls at 22.6%, and disguised as traffic accidents such as vehicle collisions at 19.4%.

Perpetrator Status (Source: Financial Supervisory Service)

Victims were mostly ordinary men aged 50 and above, often murdered in everyday life settings such as their homes or roads.

Victims of fatal accidents were commonly from ordinary social classes such as office workers and housewives each at 22.6%, service industry workers at 16.1%, and self-employed at 9.7%.

The gender ratio of victims was higher for males at 64.5% compared to females at 35.5%.

Age distribution of victims was mainly older: 60 and above and 50s each at 29.0%, 40s at 19.4%, 30s at 16.1%, and 20s at 6.5%.

Victims had an average of 3.4 insurance contracts (with a monthly premium of 620,000 KRW), died within 5 months after enrollment, and the death insurance payout averaged about 780 million KRW.

They paid an average monthly premium of 620,000 KRW, with about 20% paying over 1 million KRW. Death accidents occurred on average 158 days (5 months) after insurance enrollment, and more than half (54.8%) of accidents happened within one year of contract signing.

An FSS official emphasized, "With the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and economic difficulties due to rising interest rates and inflation, crimes targeting death insurance payouts are expected to increase. Crimes among family members targeting insurance money have significant social impact and undermine trust in the insurance industry, so prevention and measures to prevent recurrence of similar cases are important."

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