Police to Conduct Special Crackdown on Insurance Fraud Crimes Until June... Over 1 Trillion Won Detected Last Year

The National Police Agency’s National Investigation Headquarters announced on the 30th that it will conduct a nationwide special crackdown on various public and private insurance-related insurance fraud crimes for two months from May 1 to June 30.

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Insurance fraud is a malicious crime that undermines the financial soundness of public and private insurance and increases the insurance premium burden on many honest policyholders. Last year, the amount of insurance fraud detected exceeded 1 trillion won, marking a record high and continuing to increase.

Accordingly, the Special Act on the Prevention of Insurance Fraud was enacted in 2016, separately classifying insurance fraud crimes and imposing heavier penalties than general fraud crimes, thereby strengthening related legislation. According to Article 8 (Insurance Fraud Crime) of the Special Act on the Prevention of Insurance Fraud, a person who receives insurance money through insurance fraud or causes a third party to obtain insurance money shall be punished by imprisonment for up to 10 years or a fine of up to 50 million won.

The police are strictly responding by conducting regular and special crackdowns, improving the insurance fraud reporting and assignment system centered on provincial police agencies, and operating an insurance crime investigation council. According to the police, the number of insurance fraud offenders arrested last year was 1,632, a 48.8% decrease compared to 3,189 in 2021. However, the amount of detected damages increased by about 76%, from 131.4 billion won to 231.8 billion won.

Recently, it has been analyzed that intentional insurance frauds such as recruiting conspirators online or causing accidents involving vehicles violating regulations, as well as organized insurance fraud involving corporate brokers and hospitals, have been continuously occurring.

The police plan to have provincial police agencies take charge of receiving and analyzing insurance fraud cases requested for investigation by insurance companies and related institutions, and assign them to anti-corruption economic crime investigation units of provincial police agencies or the relevant police stations. Police stations with expertise in insurance fraud will directly investigate major insurance fraud cases occurring within their jurisdiction after analysis and review by provincial police agencies.

The National Investigation Headquarters stated, "Since insurance fraud is a crime that undermines trust in the insurance system, causes leakage of insurance money, and harms honest insurance policyholders, we will do our best to crack down on it."

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