ULSAN — A group that deliberately rammed cars changing lanes at intersections to collect tens of millions of won in insurance payouts has received suspended prison sentences and fines.
The Ulsan District Court said on the 15th that Judge Lee Jae-wook of the court's third criminal division sentenced three men in their 20s, including a defendant identified as A, to one year in prison, suspended for two years, on charges of violating the Special Act on the Prevention of Insurance Fraud. Three accomplices who took part in the scheme were each fined between 1.5 million won and 3 million won.
The six, who knew one another as friends or as seniors and juniors from the same area, were indicted on charges of staging traffic accidents or filing false accident reports in the Yangsan area of South Gyeongsang Province between January and April, collecting a combined 67.4 million won in insurance payouts and settlement money across eight incidents.
They mainly targeted vehicles switching lanes while turning left at intersections. Turning left from the second lane, they would deliberately strike the rear passenger side of a car entering from the first lane. After each crash, they reported the collision to insurers as accidental and checked into hospitals by exaggerating their pain despite needing no real treatment, collecting settlement money and medical expenses.
A, an employee at a tire shop, also falsely reported that his car had hit a utility pole, obtaining an additional 1.3 million won in repair costs.
"Organized, deliberate traffic accidents pose a serious danger to the lives, bodies and property of ordinary citizens and warrant stiff punishment," the court said. In explaining the sentences, it added that it had "taken into account that all of the defendants admitted to the charges and showed remorse, and that some reached settlements with the insurers they defrauded."