Thai General Insurance Association (TGIA) has found that thousands of policyholders submitted fraudulent documents to misappropriate over 500 million baht's worth of compensation from Covid insurance policies offering a lump-sum payment.
Anon Wangvasu, the president of TGIA, said several member companies of the association reported that a number of policyholders who had not been infected with Covid used forged documents containing fake patient information to file for compensation.
He said many non-life insurance companies had tried to expedite the compensation payment process during the height of the pandemic when the number of people filing claims for the lump-sum payment soared.
The companies reported to TGIA that they were unable to do a comprehensive examination of all the documents due to time restrictions, allowing fraudsters to make off with the insurance money, he said.
The insurance companies only discovered the forged documents during a re-examination of all the information and documents submitted to hospitals certified by the Ministry of Health after the situation had eased.
During the re-examination process, the companies found that some policyholders used the identification numbers of other patients that had been infected with Covid and created fake Covid-19 test reports and certificates, he said.
According to Mr Anon, such acts are classified as insurance fraud and those who engage in such activity are subject to legal penalties, including imprisonment not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding 300,000 baht, or both.
