"I Fell and Hit My Back" ... A Man in His 30s Threw Himself Down After Seeing 1.2 Million Won Payout [Filing False Claims]

\r\n[Financial News] The sport utility vehicle (SUV) was nudged toward the crosswalk, moving more than 2 meters forward. It had been hit from behind by a passenger car. The car, making a right turn, failed to avoid the stopped SUV and struck its rear bumper.
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The SUV that had been struck was moving toward A, a man in his 30s who happened to be crossing the street. It was not the kind of situation anyone would normally expect. A could only be startled. He flinched, thinking an accident might occur. But because he was walking near the end of the crosswalk,it did not reach A.
Still, both the car and SUV drivers appeared to be in a panic. A made the wrong decision at that moment.'What if I just say it hit me? No one would know, right?'In fact, A shouted on the spot that the SUV's left side mirror had struck his right arm and that the pain was severe. The drivers, who could not immediately verify the claim, did not strongly deny it. They were too flustered to think clearly, so it seemed plausible.
A eventually submitted a medical certificate to the insurer of the passenger car driver and falsely claimed that he had been injured in a traffic accident. Through this,he received about 1.2 million won in insurance payouts.\r\n\r\n
Once his scheme worked, A grew bolder. Ten days after the first accident, while walking on the road, he saw a motorcycle approaching from the opposite direction on his left. As it came close,he leaned his body as if to make contact with the side mirror. The result was an insurance payout of 500,000 won.
Next, he staged an incident in which he physically threw himself against a real car. Seeing a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk, he rammed his torso into it. He then told the insurer that "the vehicle hit me, I fell, andI was injured when my back struck the ground," exaggerating the incident. He again collected more than 900,000 won in insurance money.
But after A was indicted and brought to trial, he was found guilty of violating the Special Act on Prevention of Insurance Fraudand was fined 1.5 million won.
The court rejected A's claim that he had never deceived the insurer, point by point. It noted that the impact in the first incident was strong enough to dent the SUV's rear bumper, and that if his arm had truly been hit as he claimed, it would have been natural for him to drop the phone he was holding or complain of pain. Instead, he showed no signs of physical distress, such as taking photos to collect evidence or putting and taking out his phone from the back pocket of his pants.
In the second accident as well, the court found that A had been looking straight ahead and could therefore see the motorcycle. "It is normal to stop walking or turn one's body when anticipating a collision with a vehicle and recognizing a dangerous situation," the court said. "The National Forensic Service concluded in its analysis that he acted in a way contrary to that and stated that there was a possibility he intentionally caused the accident."
For the final accident, the court also concluded that A had deliberately caused it. "A said schizophrenia had developed six months before the first accident and that he had been receiving treatment, but his behavior during the insurance claims process after the accidents makes it difficult to say that his ability to judge the situation was inferior to that of the average person," the court said.
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taeil0808@fnnews.com Kim Tae-il Reporter