Police to launch a crackdown on traffic-accident insurance fraud.
The Korean National Police Agency National Office of Investigation (NOI) said on the 14th that it plans to conduct an intensive crackdown on traffic-accident insurance fraud through Sept. 30.
Police said that over the past four years, intensive crackdowns uncovered 12,902 cases of insurance fraud, leading to the arrest of 6,261 people, 153 of whom were detained. Last year alone, 2,612 cases were uncovered and 1,122 people were caught. Among those apprehended, people in their 20s and 30s accounted for 72.1%, the largest share.
The National Office of Investigation (NOI) designated 25 traffic crime investigation teams, currently operating at city and provincial police agencies nationwide, as dedicated teams for traffic-accident insurance fraud. It set intentional crashes, exaggeration of traffic-accident damages, and collusion by related parties such as hospitals and repair shops as key targets of the crackdown.
The National Office of Investigation (NOI) also plans to apply the Criminal Act's organized crime provisions, such as criminal organization charges, to systematic fraud and impose tougher penalties, and to freeze criminal revenue gained through insurance fraud under the pre-indictment confiscation and forfeiture system.
Park Seong-ju, head of the National Office of Investigation (NOI), said, "Auto insurance fraud is a serious crime that threatens the safety of people's lives and bodies and increases economic burdens," adding, "We will respond more sternly to systematic fraud, including by applying criminal organization charges."