False insurance claims increased 11.2 percent in terms of payments in the first six months of the year to nearly 300 billion won ($295.77 million), including cases of drunk driving and exaggerated injury, the financial watchdog said Monday.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service, insurance fraud scammers took 286.9 billion won through wrongful filings during the January-June period, up from 257.9 billion won a year earlier.

The watchdog detected 40,714 suspects over the six-month period, slightly down from 41,953 the previous year.

Fraud not involving life insurance accounted for 250.3 billion won, or 87.3 percent, of the total false claims. Fraudulent auto insurance claims amounted to 149.4 billion won, or 52.1 percent, of these claims.

Cases of misrepresenting or fabricating information were the most frequent types of insurance fraud with 20.3 percent, followed by false statements about driving under the influence or driving without a license. (Yonhap)