South Korean regulators sanction 29 insurance professionals for fraud

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission and Financial Supervisory Service have issued administrative sanctions against 29 insurance industry professionals—including 28 insurance agents and one loss adjuster—for involvement in insurance fraud. The disciplinary actions include the cancellation of registration for 19 individuals and business suspensions for 10 others.

Investigations revealed various fraudulent methods, with intentional traffic accident manipulation being the most common, accounting for 55.2% of cases. In one notable instance, an agent conspired with multiple individuals to stage vehicle collisions, defrauding eight insurance companies of approximately 489 million won.

Other fraudulent activities included falsifying hospitalization records, manipulating medical diagnoses, and exaggerating injuries. Some cases involved extreme moral hazards, such as an agent attempting to claim 467 million won in death benefits by forging a spouse's signature on life insurance policies without their knowledge, and another attempting to claim 200 million won by concealing a sibling's medical history.