Representative image of a pregnant woman.
Credit: iStock Photo
A Chinese woman named Xie (42) who is from Shanghai and works for a foreign company, faked multiple miscarriages to claim 66,200 yuan ($9,334) as maternity insurance.
According to a report by South China Morning Post, Xie forged medical documents to claim maternity indemnity which is a part of social insurance system in China.
The maternity insurance in the country covers medical expenses regarding pregnancy and childbirth, and also provides financial support to the woman while she is on her maternity leave.
Reportedly, Xie who had studied telecommunications and computer science, earns a salary of more than 30,000 yuan every month.
The woman who had suffered a miscarriage two years back, was on a maternity leave on December 2023 when she received the maternity insurance successfully.
This one-time genuine event led to Xie's greed for money, and she started faking miscarriages to obtain more money for free.
According to SCMP, Xie then started creating fake medical documents with the help of computer software which included - a maternity certificate and a summary of her discharge from the hospital, where she claimed to have had the miscarriage.
Gong Xiaoting, Shanghai Prosecutor said that the country's online insurance application system is at times used and exploited illegally by criminals who use photo-editing technology.
According to SCMP, Xie had twice received the maternity benefits worth 66,200 yuan by submitting forged medical documents while claiming online insurance.
Using the same method again, she applied for another fabricated miscarriage's insurance claiming 40,000 yuan, but her application was rejected.
In February 2024, when Xie genuinely suffered another miscarriage, Xie again applied for the maternity insurance.
According to the publication's report, the insurance officials and authorities during a documentation review found that Xie had earlier filed 5 maternity insurance claims in 4 years.
They also noticed several skeptical similarities in her documents, following which a case was filed with the police.
According to SCMP, Xie turned herself in, returned all the money she received by fraud after claiming the maternity insurances and said, "As an older pregnant woman with poor health, I worried about medical costs. In desperation, I impulsively faked miscarriages to get the insurance money. I have already resigned from my job, and I deeply regret what I have done."
Xie, who was found guilty on August 16, received a jail sentence of one and a half years due to her voluntary confession.
According to the publication's report, Wang Xinyuan, the judge said, "Xie's deeds not only violated her company’s property rights but also posed a serious threat to the social insurance systems."