by BERNAMA/ pic by BERNAMA

THE Social Security Organisation (Socso) has found that syndicates have resorted to changing patients and altering medical reports as among the modus operandi to put in false claims.

Socso CEO Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed said the tactics were believed to be carried out by masterminds such as insurance agents, merely to ensure Socso contributors received various benefits such as temporary disablement, permanent disablement and invalidity pensions claims.

He said these fake claim masterminds were believed to be still active in the Klang Valley, Johor Baru and Klang, Selangor, and they guarantee the claims made by Socso contributors would be successful if handled by them.

“They (masterminds) duped contributors by saying they are middlemen who could guarantee obtaining their claims from Socso and the masterminds would charge between RM15,000 and RM20,000 for their effort,” he said.

He told a media conference on the arrest of masterminds found deceiving Socso funds by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) yesterday.

Dr Mohammed Azman said there were 415 cases of false claims detected by the organisation from 2017 to 2019 involving losses amounting to RM26 million and if the false claims were successful, the losses would run up to RM68 million.

“We managed to detect some of the cases while some are still under investigation by police and MACC,” he said.

Dr Mohammed Azman stressed that Socso did not appoint any representatives or agents to facilitate claims nor promise claim approval by Socso.

“I wish to tell all contributors that if they want to make claims, please go to any Socso offices and claim processing is free.

“If there are quarters that have engaged or paid agents or masterminds, please come forward to provide us the information for actions to be taken. We at Socso are very serious about eradicating such activities,” he said.