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 starting from May 1.
The National Police Agency selected insurance fraud as one of the malicious fraud issues infringing on people's livelihood in August 2022 and has been responding strictly through continuous and special crackdowns.
In January this year, the National Police Agency signed a business agreement with the Financial Supervisory Service and the National Health Insurance Service to eradicate insurance fraud crimes, further strengthening cooperation and crackdown systems related to insurance fraud.
Insurance fraud is a malicious crime that damages the financial soundness of public and private insurance and increases the insurance premium burden on many honest policyholders. Recently, related legislation has continued, including the first revision in eight years of the Special Act on the Prevention of Insurance Fraud, enacted in 2016.
The National Police Agency plans to strongly crack down on various insurance frauds related to public and private insurance during this special crackdown period.
To this end, ‘dedicated insurance fraud investigation teams’ will be designated and operated at anti-corruption economic crime investigation units of each city and provincial police agency. Investigative efforts will focus on △ insurance fraud linked to public and private insurance such as administrative agency hospitals △ insurance fraud involving brokers and hospitals △ various public insurance-related frauds such as long-term care insurance and health insurance.
In particular, this crackdown will strengthen cooperation with related organizations such as the Financial Supervisory Service and the National Health Insurance Service. If illegal acts related to public insurance, such as fraudulent claims for nursing benefits, are confirmed during investigations of insurance fraud targeting private insurance, active investigations will be conducted.
Regarding violations of the Medical Service Act, such as illegally established medical institutions (administrative agency hospitals), the agency plans to actively apply for seizure and confiscation before prosecution to strengthen the recovery of criminal proceeds.
The National Police Agency stated, “Insurance fraud is a crime infringing on people's livelihood that undermines trust in the insurance system, which plays a major role in the social safety net, causes leakage of insurance money, and harms honest policyholders. We will do our best in the crackdown.”
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