South Korea fines insurance fraud gang of men in their 20s and 30s for intentionally crashing into lane-changing vehicles

Two insurance fraudsters in their 20s and 30s who intentionally caused traffic accidents and received insurance money were sentenced to fines. According to the legal community on the 3rd, Judge Hong Da-seong of the Criminal 4 Exclusive at the Seoul Western District Court said,
The court sentenced a defendant named Lee (27), who was indicted on charges of violating the Special Act on Prevention of Insurance Fraud, to a fine of 5 million won (approximately 539,090 yen).
The nine people who were tried alongside Lee were each fined between 3 million and 6 million won (approximately 323,450 yen).
The 10 were all in their 20s and 30s and were friends or seniors or juniors in the neighborhood.
According to the court, when the defendants noticed a vehicle changing course, they approached it.
They conspired with a scam artist who would intentionally cause traffic accidents by crashing into people, then make it look like the accident was accidental, in order to receive medical expenses and settlement money from the insurance company.
As a result, in August 2019, the defendant Lee was found driving a car and changing lanes on a road near Gilreum Station in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul.
After intentionally causing the accident, he received about 4.6 million won (about 495,962 yen) from the victim in the form of settlement money, and defrauded him of a total of about 7.2 million won (about 776,289 yen).
The other nine were not direct drivers, but were passengers in cars driven by others between 2017 and 2022 and participated in the crimes.
The amount they received ranged from 7 million won (approximately 754,726 yen) to as much as 16 million won (approximately 1,725,080 yen).
The court ruled that "insurance fraud is committed without the reasonable risk distribution of insurance."
"This crime undermines the purpose of the system, shifts the damage onto many honest policyholders, and undermines the very foundations of the insurance system, causing great social harm," he said.
However, the sentence was decided taking into consideration the fact that they admitted to their crimes and showed remorse, and that each committed only one crime.
He explained that he had lowered the