Insurance fraud hits fresh high in 2019

Fraudulent insurance claims shot up more than 10 percent in 2019 from a year earlier to hit a new record, the financial watchdog said Wednesday.

Insurance fraud scammers obtained 880 billion won ($720 million) through wrongful filings in 2019, compared with 798 billion won tallied a year earlier, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).

The watchdog said it has detected 92,538 suspects last year, rising from 79,179 disclosed in 2018.

The figures translate into 254 suspects filing 2.4 billion won worth of fraudulent insurance claims every day.

Of the suspects, nearly half of them were in their 40s or 50s.

Those aged 60 and above also accounted for around 19 percent.

Fraud involving non-life insurance stood at 802.5 billion won last year, accounting for 91.1 percent of the total false claims by value.

Fraudulent auto insurance claims amounted to 359 billion won, or 40.8 percent.

The FSS said it will step up crackdowns on insurance scams in cooperation with related state agencies, including the prosecution and police. (Yonhap)