"They Said They Were Hospitalized for Treatment," But Card Records Showed a String of Bars and PC Rooms [Claiming Lies]

[Financial News] A light fender-bender occurred in a parking lot. The four people in the car were hospitalized at a Korean medicine clinic the next day. However, their 'hospital stay' did not take place at the hospital.
They went out together to drink in the early morning and visited beer halls, karaoke rooms, bowling alleys, PC rooms, and other places. In court, they argued that they had only gone out because "the hospital was stifling," but the court rejected their claim.

The incident occurred in a parking lot in Yongin-si. A Kia Sorento reversing into a parking space gradually approached the passenger car carrying Person A and three friends in their 30s. Although they wondered whether it would happen, the Kia Sorento eventually touched the front bumper of their car.
The impact was not significant. The Kia Sorento stopped with a jolt. The driver and two children, aged 5 and 9, did not receive any separate treatment. Person A's group also felt no physical problems and even went on a planned amusement ride that day.
Then Person B, one of the group, suddenly raised the subject. "Are we just going to let this go?" That was howthose who had conspired to collect insurance money were admitted the next day to a Korean medicine clinic in Incheon Metropolitan Citydid so.
However, there was no actual inpatient treatment. Theyimmediately went out at dawn to look for a bar. They also visited beer halls, karaoke rooms, cafés, bowling alleys, PC rooms, and other places.
Because the records showed that they had received inpatient treatment, the insurer paid each of them 1.9 million won as an accident settlement. Hospital treatment costs also came to around 2 million won per person. Person B in particular received an additional 5.3 million won payment for unrepaired vehicle damage without actually having the car repaired. The total insurance payout exceeded 20 million won.

During the trial, Person A and the others claimed that they had suffered injuries in the actual accident and received treatment through normal channels, insisting that they had no intention of deceiving the insurer. The court reached a different conclusion.
After the National Forensic Service analyzed the accident video, it found that at the timethe changes in the movements of the driver and passengers were estimated to have been below "the level that a healthy ordinary person could withstand"It determined that the possibility of injuries occurring in the accident was extremely low.
The court also focused on their behavior during the hospitalization. Since they freely moved among bars, karaoke rooms, bowling alleys, and PC rooms, the court found it difficult to believe that they had been in a condition serious enough to make outpatient treatment impossible.
The defendants' attitude also became an issue. During the early stages of the investigation, they claimed that they had not left the hospital or had only gone home to get clothes, buttheir trips outside were confirmed through card-use records and outgoing mobile-phone call recordsso they told the court, "We went outside because the hospital was stifling."
The court dismissed this as "an excuse that cannot be accepted" and pointed out that the defendants needed to be punished harshly for treating unnecessary hospitalization—and drinking and playing outside afterward—as though it were normal.
The court sentenced Person A and the other three defendants, who had been indicted on charges of violating the Special Act on Prevention of Insurance Fraud,to a fine of 5 million won each.did so.

[email protected] Kim Tae-il Reporter