The National Police Agency, Criminal Investigation Headquarters announced on April 30 that it will conduct a nationwide special crackdown on public and private insurance fraud crimes from May to October this year.
Insurance fraud is a serious criminal offense that undermines the financial soundness of both public and private insurance and increases the premium burden on the majority of honest policyholders.
Since August 2022, the police have designated insurance fraud as one of the key malicious fraud crimes that threaten everyday life and have been conducting regular and special crackdowns. In April of this year, the police held an insurance fraud investigation council with 18 provincial police agencies, the Financial Supervisory Service, the Life Insurance Association, the General Insurance Association, and insurance companies.
Each provincial police agency’s anti-corruption and economic crime investigation unit will designate and operate a dedicated insurance fraud investigation team. The teams will focus their investigative efforts on: insurance fraud schemes that link public and private insurance, such as those involving unauthorized medical institutions (so-called "office manager hospitals"); insurance fraud involving brokers in collusion with hospitals; and fraud related to long-term care insurance and health insurance.
For violations of the Medical Service Act, such as illegal medical institutions (office manager hospitals), the police plan to actively apply for pre-indictment confiscation and preservation of criminal proceeds in order to strengthen the recovery of crime profits.
A police official stated, "Insurance fraud is a crime that undermines trust in the insurance system, which is a major pillar of the social safety net, and causes insurance payouts to leak, resulting in harm to honest policyholders. We will do our utmost to crack down on these crimes."
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