Insurance Fraud Damage Notification Period Shortened from '30 Days to 15 Days'

Immediate Refund of Unfair 'Surcharge Insurance Premium' Upon Victim's Consent to Refund

Financial Supervisory Service, Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

From now on, insurance companies must notify policyholders of insurance fraud damages within 15 days.

On the 26th, the Financial Supervisory Service announced that following the enforcement of the Special Act on the Prevention of Insurance Fraud, it has established follow-up procedures to shorten the notification period for insurance companies to inform policyholders of insurance fraud damages from 30 days to 15 days.

Accordingly, insurance companies must notify policyholders of insurance fraud damages, such as unjust increases in premiums due to insurance fraud, within 15 business days via text message or phone call. The methods and frequency of notification are to be standardized. Insurance companies are required to inform policyholders of the damages at least four times and expand notification methods to include text messages, phone calls, and emails.

Additionally, if the victim agrees to a refund, the unjustly increased premium must be refunded immediately. For refunds of increased premiums to victims of automobile insurance fraud, the process is as follows: the non-life insurance company sends the details of the automobile insurance fraud to the Korea Insurance Development Institute, which then notifies the refund targets, and the insurance company refunds the increased premiums to the victims.

Meanwhile, the Financial Supervisory Service plans to conduct a campaign to recover unrefunded increased premiums by the end of October. Since 2009, 19,482 people have received 8.6 billion KRW in increased premium refunds, but 1,312 people are still awaiting refunds totaling 240 million KRW.

An official from the Financial Supervisory Service urged, "Policyholders who have not received increased premium refunds due to lost contact or other reasons should check insurance fraud damage information through the 'Overpaid Premium Integrated Inquiry System' and apply for premium refunds."