[Exclusive] "Catch Fraudulent Claims"... Revising the Monitoring System for National and Basic Pensions

Pension Backlash Growing... Strengthening Surveillance Network Against Fraudulent Claims
National Pension and Basic Pension Linked Through Data Sharing for Joint Supervision

The government has begun restructuring the supervision system to filter out pension fraudsters. The crackdown, which previously involved massive manpower and time, will shift to a scientific approach that enhances efficiency and detection rates. Since the existence of beneficiaries illegally receiving pensions can fuel public backlash and hinder the government's pension reform, it is interpreted as a move to strengthen the monitoring network in advance.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Pension Service on the 8th, the government has embarked on strengthening the supervision system for recipients of the National Pension and Basic Pension. The core is a system to detect high-risk fraudulent recipients as early as possible. They will establish an information-gathering foundation for detecting fraud and develop a computerized system that can properly utilize the data. Additionally, by linking the management of different pensions, blind spots in monitoring will be eliminated, and necessary legal revisions will be made during this process.

First, the ‘targeting’ process to filter out fraudulent recipients will be made more precise. The National Pension Service creates a list of ‘beneficiary verification investigation’ subjects to find fraudsters among over 6 million pension recipients. Last year, 67,000 people were selected for investigation, utilizing 32 types of data such as medical records. The problem is that the scope is excessively broad, with everyone above a certain age becoming a supervision target, which reduces rigor. Therefore, additional data that can be used to detect signs of fraud will be discovered and utilized for supervision.

Among the investigation subjects created through targeting, cases with a high probability of fraud will be automatically identified by the system for the person in charge. The verification method of visiting every household to check all subjects will be avoided, and response methods such as phone calls or on-site investigations will be applied differently depending on the type.

Adding Monitoring Data and Linking Basic Pension Supervision with National Pension

The Basic Pension will increase its supervisory linkage with the National Pension. Unlike the National Pension, which is operated by the central government, the Basic Pension managed by local government heads has had minimal use of data for detecting fraud. Only indirect checks were made using basic administrative information such as residence or death status, but risk signs were not shared. The government will establish a system to share the various data used to detect fraud in both the National Pension and Basic Pension. However, since the process involves transferring personal information, a legal review and subsequent amendment proposal are required.

For recipients who receive the Basic Pension without receiving the National Pension, a separate crackdown method will be strengthened. In particular, the inclusion of data on ‘those who have not received long-term care benefits for two years,’ which is important for detecting Basic Pension fraud, is being discussed for inclusion in the monitoring network.

The government’s focus on detecting pension fraud is due to the high level of public interest. Since pension premiums may increase or pension amounts may decrease in the future, continuous cases of fraud could disrupt President Yoon Suk-yeol’s pension reform. A government official said, “Not all people monitored for pension receipt are fraudsters, and the actual detection rate in investigations is very low,” but added, “Because fraud is a very sensitive issue, we are working diligently.”

In November last year, controversy arose when the skeletal remains of a man in his 70s who had died two years earlier were found in a villa in downtown Incheon. A man in his 40s, Mr. A, was caught after leaving his mother’s body at home for over two years to continue receiving her pension. The fraudulent pension Mr. A received after his mother’s death amounted to about 15 million won.

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