"Second-hand" luxury cars that have changed hands many times, mechanics whose identities are constantly changing, frequent collisions, and high insurance claims...... Recently, the police in Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning and other places have successively detected a number of car insurance fraud cases, of which the amount involved in a criminal gang alone reached nearly 10 million yuan.
The reporter's investigation found that vehicle insurance has been regarded as "property insurance" by some criminals in recent years, and has become the "hardest hit area" for insurance fraud crimes. Auto insurance fraud not only brings financial losses to insurance companies, but also seriously infringes on the legitimate interests of insurers.
"Who moved my accident record?"
"My car actually has six accident records, how did your insurance company do it?" Not long ago, in the lobby of an insurance company in Nankai District, Tianjin, Ms. Zhou and the insurance company's salesman had an argument over the insurance of their brand-name vehicle.
"I don't drive this car often, and I usually put it in the auto repair shop for regular maintenance several times, how can there be so many problems?" When Ms. Zhou argued, the salesman took out a claim form, power of attorney, and accident certificate with her signature, which made Ms. Zhou stunned.
Coincidentally, when Mr. Liu, a citizen of Tianjin, registered to sell second-hand cars, he also found a strange accident record: the vehicle that usually only had a scraping accident had a record of colliding with a luxury car many times, and received a lot of compensation from the insurance company......
The picture shows the vehicle involved in a vehicle insurance fraud case. (Photo courtesy of the Economic Investigation Corps of Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau)
The clues of each case were keenly captured by the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau's Economic Investigation Intelligence Guidance and Investigation Joint Logistics Center through big data screening. "We found that many accidents were related to luxury cars, and it was a bit strange that the same luxury car often changed license plates and had accidents one after another. He Lianning, deputy head of the fifth detachment of the Economic Investigation Corps of the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau, said.
The relevant clues were quickly handed over to the Nankai Branch of the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau, and through careful combing and careful analysis of the vehicles involved in the case and the information of thousands of accident claims, Pan, the person in charge of an auto repair factory in Nankai District, entered the police's field of vision.
"Most of the vehicles responsible for dozens of accidents were maintained or repaired in Pan's repair shop, and those 'hit' luxury cars were registered in Pan's name and then changed hands to her employees or relatives many times. Wang Xiaoyue, the first-class sergeant of the five teams of the crime investigation detachment of the Nankai Branch and the special case police, said.
After a comprehensive analysis of the gang members, the funds involved in the case, and the vehicles involved, the context of a series of insurance fraud cases gradually became clear, and the insurance fraud criminal gang headed by Pan was immediately arrested.
A number of claims were lured to lose
After interrogation by the police, Pan gradually confessed the facts of the crime.
At the end of 2015, she began planning to fake a serious collision or immersion damage accident to defraud insurance claims. In the name of employees Dong, Yang and others, she successively registered 6 auto maintenance companies, and then several people deliberately caused accidents, and Dong, Yang and others pretended to be the driver of the accident vehicle to declare a claim, defrauding the insurance company of the claim.
After investigation, the gang has committed more than 100 insurance fraud crimes since 2016, involving nearly 10 million yuan. Among them, only through 5 forged accidents of one car, nearly one million yuan was defrauded.
According to the police handling the case, these accidents can be roughly divided into several steps: replacing good parts of luxury cars with old ones, and "colliding" occurs in repair shops; driving luxury cars to the "accident lot" to forge the scene to defraud the traffic police of road traffic accident certificates; and impersonating the driver of the vehicle to apply for compensation from the insurance company in the name of the vehicle policyholder or insured.
The picture shows an auto repair shop run by an insurance fraud criminal gang headed by Pan. (Photo courtesy of the Economic Investigation Corps of Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau)
"They use very low-cost old parts to pass off as originals, and after they are damaged, they make inflated quotations to defraud claims. Once successful, the original parts are replaced and the vehicle is restored to its original state. Wang Xiaoyue said that in the process of falsifying accidents, inflating quotations, and low-cost maintenance, the roles of repairmen, claims adjusters, and car owners played an important role.
Dong, an employee of Pan's subordinate, has a long-term cooperation case. In return, Pan gave Dong benefits for a long time.
Some salesmen of insurance companies have also become "internal ghosts". In the process of vehicle damage assessment and claims, the name of Zhang, the former salesman of an insurance company, repeatedly appeared in more than 10 "accidents".
For these "accidents", some car owners are not aware of it, but there are also some car owners who voluntarily cooperate with the insurance fraud.
"You don't need money to repair the car, as long as you keep the car in the repair shop for a long time, and you will be given a red envelope when the time comes. Guo, the owner of the car who was punished for participating in insurance fraud, confessed that when he went to the auto repair shop to repair the car, the staff induced him like this. The other party said that if he wanted to get the discount, he would need to be allowed to install old parts on the car and pretend to be a traffic accident.
At first, Guo was a little hesitant, but the staff packed the ticket: after getting the claim, not only the vehicle was restored to its original state, but also the money could be shared. Guo, who couldn't resist the temptation, agreed.
The police investigation found that Guo only saved a few thousand yuan in vehicle maintenance costs and received a few hundred yuan in red envelopes, but the auto repair factory used Guo's car to forge luxury car collision accidents many times, defrauding up to 400,000 yuan in compensation.
Subsequently, Pan was sentenced to 13 years in prison for insurance fraud and fraud, Dong was sentenced to six years in prison for insurance fraud and fraud, and other gang members were also punished by law.
Strengthen supervision and crack down on the escalation of measures to deal with auto insurance fraud
In recent years, there has been an increasing number of insurance fraud cases involving gangs, professions, and cross-regional and cross-agency cases.
In March this year, the Beijing police smashed a criminal gang of professional insurance fraudsters who deliberately caused accidents and committed insurance fraud. In this case, the incumbent employees of an insurance company colluded with the departing employees and the designated auto repair shop inside and outside the designated auto repair shop to defraud the compensation by means of fictitious and deliberate vehicle accidents or the expansion of damage to the accident.
Not long ago, the Liaoning police also cracked a case of self-directed and self-acting fake car accident insurance fraud, and 10 criminal suspects were taken criminal coercive measures in accordance with the law.
Wang Xiaoyue said that in many cases, the insurance company's claims adjusters did not arrive at the scene of the accident when they handled the case, and some of the "fast" signatures were only signed on behalf of others. Insurance companies should improve their internal control mechanisms and strengthen supervision and restraint over important positions such as underwriting and claims reduction. At the same time, it is also necessary to strengthen the education of law-abiding compliance and integrity and self-discipline, and improve the professional ethics and literacy of employees.
Recently, the State Administration of Financial Supervision and Administration drafted the Measures for Anti-Insurance Fraud (Draft for Comments), which stipulates the anti-fraud responsibilities and tasks of insurance institutions in terms of organizational structure, internal control, risk identification and disposal, information system and data management.
The intelligent construction of big data can also form a more effective supervision and deterrence for such crimes. According to He Lianning, after the establishment of the Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau's Economic Investigation Intelligence Guidance and Investigation Joint Logistics Center, it leveraged big data to carry out analysis of the economic crime situation in key areas and research and judgment of major clues. Since 2022, more than 10 car insurance fraud gangs have been discovered and smashed, more than 60 criminal suspects have been arrested, and nearly 100 vehicles involved in the case have amounted to tens of millions of yuan.
The reporter noticed that in Pan's series of car insurance fraud cases, more than a dozen car owners were also punished by law. The police reminded the majority of car owners and insurance claims adjusters not to touch the red line of the law for small profits, otherwise they may be investigated for criminal responsibility for suspected insurance fraud;
Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph