'Three Hole-in-Ones in Half a Year'... 168 People Caught in Mass Golf Insurance Fraud

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Suspects who fraudulently claimed insurance money by pretending to have made a hole-in-one during golf rounds have been massively caught and are now under police investigation.

The National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters announced on the 27th that they received a request for investigation from the Financial Supervisory Service regarding 168 suspects presumed to have fraudulently received hole-in-one insurance payouts. After analyzing the cases, they instructed each provincial police agency to conduct pre-indictment investigations. The National Investigation Headquarters added that since July, hole-in-one insurance fraud has been included in the special crackdown on insurance fraud, and investigations are being carried out mainly by the relevant jurisdictions, with plans to share the results with the Financial Supervisory Service. A National Investigation Headquarters official stated, "We have preliminarily coordinated with the Financial Supervisory Service on necessary matters for the investigation based on the planned investigation results of hole-in-one insurance fraud," and added, "We will actively cooperate during the investigation to prove specific charges such as false expense claims."

Hole-in-one insurance provides a congratulatory payment if a hole-in-one is made at a golf course. The insurance company verifies whether the policyholder made a hole-in-one through a hole-in-one certificate issued by the golf course. The probability of an average amateur golfer making a hole-in-one is 0.008%, which is extremely rare. Assuming a round every weekend, the chance is once every 57 years. Nevertheless, the Financial Supervisory Service, which requested the investigation, explained that they confirmed numerous suspicious cases such as multiple successes in a short period or submission of false expense receipts.

Among the suspects caught this time, many cases involved submitting canceled card receipts or false cash receipts to the insurance company to embezzle insurance money. There were also cases of repeatedly subscribing to and canceling hole-in-one insurance to receive multiple insurance payouts within a short period. In one case, a policyholder conspired with an agent to conclude an insurance contract and recorded three hole-in-ones during companion rounds over six months to claim insurance money. A National Investigation Headquarters official urged, "Acts such as submitting hole-in-one certificates falsely issued in collusion with caddies or others to the insurance company, or claiming expenses not actually incurred, constitute insurance fraud, so please be cautious."