SINGAPORE — A former Manulife insurance agent hoped to earn more commission with every successful policy he sold. So he cooked up a plan — together with a fellow agent and a chiropractor — to cheat the insurer by submitting fraudulent claims to the company.

The chiropractor would sell treatment packages to his patients, and then recommend that they buy personal accident policies from the insurance agents so that they can claim the costs.

However, since the policies did not cover pre-existing conditions, the agents would falsely state in the claim form that the patients had sustained injuries after buying their insurance policy. This would be corroborated by the chiropractor in his medical report.

For his actions, former Manulife insurance agent Mike Chew Jun Yong was on Friday (Oct 18) sentenced to six months’ jail. The 37-year-old pleaded guilty to three charges of conspiracy to cheat, with another four similar charges taken into consideration for sentencing.

Charles Loo Boon Ann, the director of Chiropractic Focus Group at the time, is currently serving an eight-month jail sentence for his role in the scheme. The other insurance agent, Priscilla Tien Ling, is set to plead guilty to her offences next week.

WHAT HAPPENED

The court heard that Loo got to know the pair in early 2017, and they discussed how to collaborate in their respective chiropractic and insurance businesses. They agreed to their plan over several meet-ups.

When Loo pleaded guilty, the court heard that the trio cheated 13 patients from April 2017 to April last year.

In one instance, a husband-and-wife pair visited the Chiropractic Focus Group’s outlet at Tampines Central on April 6, 2017.

Loo told the man that he could treat his chronic back pain, and told the woman that one of her legs was longer than the other and that her posture was poor.

When Loo recommended them treatment packages, they hesitated as they felt the packages were too expensive. However, they signed up for one costing S$4,800 and physiotherapy sessions costing S$510 after Loo told them they could buy an insurance policy to cover the costs.

The couple bought a Manulife policy through Chew and Tien, then returned to Loo for treatment.

On June 16, 2017, Chew submitted a personal accident claim form for the couple. He wrote that the man had slipped and fallen, causing swelling and pain in his hip and back, while the woman had slipped and fallen in his office.

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Manulife eventually paid the couple S$500 each.

In total, Chew submitted S$8,855 worth of fraudulent claims to Manulife, which paid out only S$1,750 in the end.

Chew was acquitted of two other charges relating to about S$1,200 worth of fraudulent claims. No payouts were given for them.

For each cheating charge, Chew could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.