a day ago
361 arrested for allegedly staging traffic accidents to claim Hong Kong gov't aid
Hong Kong police have arrested a total of 361 people suspected of staging road accidents to obtain government aid for traffic accident victims.
As of the end of June, a total of 353 people were arrested on suspicion of staging road accidents and using forged medical certificates to claim the Traffic Accident Victims Assistance (TAVA) from the Social Welfare Department (SWD), police said during a press conference on Thursday.
Another eight people – seven men and one woman, aged 22 to 60 – were arrested over the past week, bringing the total number of arrests to 361.
The eight suspects were reportedly warehouse workers, delivery persons or unemployed.
'Through our investigation, we found those cases follow self-written, self-directed and self-performed 'scripts.' Most drivers and 'victims' reported that they were injured in traffic accidents in the early morning because they tried to avoid dogs on the road or because the road was slippery,' Lam Pak-kiu, the chief inspector of Kowloon West District Crime Unit, told journalists in Cantonese.
'They then tried to claim grants under TAVA with false medical certificates.'
Police are investigating whether those arrested were involved in organised crime, Lam added.
The SWD has been making police reports on suspected TAVA fraud cases since March last year, the chief inspector also said at the press conference.
Police previously said that a total of 275 people were arrested between October 3 and November 1 over allegedly staging traffic accidents to fraudulently claim HK$14 million in TAVA.
According to the SWD, TAVA provides different types of grants to road traffic accident victims or the dependants of the deceased victims.
The amount of the compassionate grant ranges from HK$330 to HK$19,800, depending on the severity of injuries. Disability grants and death grants give higher amounts.
In June, the government added new measures to combat false applications, including limiting the number of grant applications an applicant can submit to once every two years, the department said in a statement released on Thursday.
'It is a criminal offence to provide false information to obtain TAVA payments,' the SWD said. 'Offenders may be prosecuted under the Theft Ordinance (Cap. 210) and be liable on conviction to imprisonment for a maximum of 14 years.'
