A man in his 20s who repeatedly staged collisions while driving luxury vehicles — including a Porsche and a BMW — to collect insurance payouts has been sentenced to prison.
Judge Park Ju-young of Busan District Court's Criminal Division 3 sentenced the defendant to 10 months in prison on Saturday on charges of violating the Special Act on Insurance Fraud Prevention.
The defendant was indicted on charges of deliberately ramming a taxi that was changing lanes in front of him while driving a Porsche in Sasang-gu, Busan, in April 2021, then filing the incident as a normal traffic accident to collect 13.28 million won ($9,390) in insurance payouts.
He also allegedly struck a Tucson vehicle with a BMW in January 2024, collecting about 4.54 million won in insurance money, and in July 2023 intentionally rammed an 8-ton truck that was changing lanes while driving a tow truck, pocketing about 5.27 million won.
The defendant argued the accidents were unavoidable, but the court ruled they were deliberate based on National Forensic Service analysis and dashcam footage. He had previously been sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, on insurance fraud charges in 2023. The court said the defendant "reoffended despite a prior insurance fraud conviction, and continues to deny some of the charges without showing remorse," adding that "only some of the damages have been recovered, making it impossible to avoid punishment commensurate with the gravity of the offenses."
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