Skeletons of woman found during investigation of benefit fraud

The skeletons of a woman in her 70s were found in Incheon over two years after her death during the National Pension Service’s investigation of benefit fraud.

According to the National Pension Service and the police on Sunday, the woman, who was 76 years old at the time of her death, received about 500,000 won of national pension and basic pension until recently. About 500,000 won of national and basic pensions had been paid monthly under her name until recently. An officer of the National Pension Service who examined benefit frauds last year discovered that she had not had any record of receiving medical care during the last two years. Her body was in a building in Ganseok-dong, Namdong-gu, Incheon on Wednesday.

The woman became subject to the National Pension Service’s potential benefit fraud investigation in the fourth quarter of the last year, and the National Pension Service sent mails regarding it. However, there was no reply, and an officer of the National Pension Service visited her place in December last year. Nobody answered the door, so the officer put up a notice on the door and left.

The National Pension Service found one of the woman's family members after asking around based on information about the woman. When the officer told the family member that national pension payment would be suspended if they couldn’t get a hold of the recipient. The fourth daughter of the woman visited the place and reported to the police when her older sister, the third daughter, did not open the door. Then, it was found that the woman was dead.

There was a note written by the third daughter that read the woman died in August 2020. She stated during a police inquiry that she did not report her late mother’s death because she was worried about the suspension of the pensions. She was imprisoned on the charge of the criminal disposal of a dead body on Friday. The dead woman had six children but did not keep contact with them, which was the reason why only the third daughter was aware of the death.

The National Pension Service and the local government in the jurisdiction will retrieve 15 million won of pensions paid illegally to the third daughter.


Kum-Chun Hwang kchwang@donga.com