Don't stage accidents or exaggerate losses to cheat on a claim: this is the crime of insurance fraud, and the people who testify for you, repair your car or assess your loss are convicted with you

Cost

Free, and it takes no time; just don't do it.

What you get

Criminal Law (刑法) Article 198 lists five situations. (1) The policyholder deliberately makes up a subject of insurance, inventing an insured object that does not exist at all. (2) The policyholder, insured or beneficiary invents a false cause for an insured event that did happen, or exaggerates the extent of the loss. (3) Making up an insured event that never happened. (4) The policyholder or insured deliberately causes an insured event of property loss. (5) The policyholder or beneficiary deliberately causes the death, disability or illness of the insured. A relatively large amount brings up to 5 years of fixed-term imprisonment or criminal detention (拘役), and a fine of 10,000 to 100,000 CNY (1万到10万). A huge amount or other serious circumstances bring 5 to 10 years and a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 CNY (2万到20万). An especially huge amount or other especially serious circumstances bring 10 years or more, and a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 CNY (2万到20万) or confiscation of property. The last paragraph of this article covers the people who help: assessors of an insured event, people who give certification, and property appraisers. Those who deliberately issue false certification documents and create conditions for others to commit insurance fraud are treated as accomplices in insurance fraud and convicted together with the person who cheated. Repairers are not among these three kinds of people, but those who agree with you to fake it together are handled as joint crime. Criminal Law Article 25: "Joint crime means an intentional crime committed jointly by two or more persons." The Changping District Court in Beijing (北京昌平法院) reported in 2021 that among the motor-vehicle insurance fraud cases concluded since 2019, "joint crime dominates, and auto repair shops are the key industry for these offenses." Insurance Law (保险法) Article 27: if no insured event occurred but one is claimed, the insurer has the right to terminate the contract and does not refund premiums. If forged or altered supporting materials are used, or a false cause for the accident is made up or the extent of the loss is exaggerated, the insurer does not pay for the overstated part, and what has already been paid must be returned or compensated. Case: in the Zhang Mousong (张某松) case in Xuancheng, Anhui, Wang Moxin (王某信) and 7 others were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 4 years to 2 years for the crime of insurance fraud, each also fined 10,000 CNY (1万). In a false lawsuit that grew out of this case, the insurer assessed the loss at 20,000 CNY (2万), and a party obtained standing to sue by forging a vehicle transfer agreement and went to court, where the court awarded more than 70,000 (7万余) CNY. That civil judgment, already in effect, was set aside on retrial on September 26, 2019. The Measures on Anti-Insurance Fraud Work (《反保险欺诈工作办法》) require that risk information be verified at both ends, when policies are sold and when claims are paid (underwriting and claims). They also call for exploring industry anti-fraud information platforms and anti-fraud intelligence centers covering multiple types of insurance. These platforms centrally screen data suspected of fraud, and leads are handed to industry associations, anti-fraud organizations and insurers for verification. Suspected crimes are reported promptly to the public security organs. The National Financial Regulatory Administration (金融监管总局) and its local offices must work with the public security organs, people's procuratorates and people's courts to establish and improve a mechanism linking administrative enforcement with criminal justice (China, issued July 31, 2024)

Notes

The following practices, which seem harmless, are all within these five situations: asking a repair shop to "report a bit more" after a minor accident, counting old damage into this incident, having a minor collision with a friend and then reporting it, or inventing an incident when nothing happened. For how to buy car insurance, see §5.26 (buy enough third-party liability coverage). When someone insures a family member and then deliberately causes his death, the statute expressly requires the sentences to be combined; see §8.38 (insuring a family member). Medical insurance is a separate set of rules: swiping a medical insurance card for nothing or cashing out a medical insurance personal account is handled as fraud; see the note to §5.13

Evidence grade

A : Specific numbers from meta-analyses, large cohorts or randomized trials; for law and policy, the statute or official text.

Sources

1. National People's Congress Standing Committee. Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China [in Chinese] (consolidated text as amended by Amendment XI), Article 198. https://flk.npc.gov.cn/detail?id=ff808181796a636a0179822a19640c92
2. National People's Congress (1997). Criminal Law [in Chinese] (Article 25; this article has not been changed by any amendment). https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/fl/201802/t20180206_364975.shtml
3. Changping District People's Court, Beijing (2021-11-23). Changping Court Reports on Motor Vehicle Insurance Fraud Crimes [in Chinese] (Beijing Courts Website). https://bjgy.bjcourt.gov.cn/article/detail/2021/11/id/6385519.shtml
4. National People's Congress Standing Committee (2015 amendment). Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China [in Chinese], Article 27. https://flk.npc.gov.cn/detail?id=2c909fdd678bf17901678bf7c4060811
5. National Financial Regulatory Administration (2024). Notice on Issuing the Measures for Anti-Insurance Fraud Work [in Chinese]. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/2024/issue_11586/202409/content_6975080.html
6. Anhui Provincial People's Procuratorate, republished from Legal Daily (2020-01-13). Killing a Wife for Insurance Money Leads to a Case Within a Case [in Chinese]. http://www.ah.jcy.gov.cn/jczt/jjslhyqkjc/mtjj/202001/t20200113_2758841.shtml

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 9, tip 21. This section describes legal rules, mostly mainland China’s. It is general information, not legal advice; for your own case, talk to a lawyer. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer