SHENZHEN People’s Procuratorate recently released two similar cases including one in which a man cheated 110,000 yuan (US$16,599) out of a social security fund by falsifying the death report of his wife.

A woman surnamed Li was recently astonished to learn from the factory she works at in Shenzhen that she couldn’t apply for social insurance as the information from the social security fund management bureau showed that she was dead and her pension had been withdrawn.

An investigation showed that Li and the suspect, Zhang, had been living together since 1992 and had four children. They later broke up and separated.

During their separation, Zhang lied to the authorities and provided a falsified death certificate, cremation certificate, notary public and relationship certificate with Li to apply for her death benefits and social insurance fund, totaling 110,000 yuan.

Zhang has been arrested for alleged involvement in a scam and falsifying official documents, and is facing a jail term of three to five years.

In another case, a man surnamed Chen was sentenced to three years and six months in jail by a Luohu court for cheating 110,000 yuan out of a social security fund by falsifying medical treatment records.

Between 2014 and 2015, Chen lied about having coronary disease and liver disease, and applied for approval for medical treatment at three hospitals outside of Shenzhen. With the falsified medical records and receipts, Chen applied for reimbursements for the medical treatment three times and swindled 110,000 yuan.

Chen’s crime was exposed during social security fund auditing.

Chen admitted that all of the materials were falsified except for his name being real.

(Han Ximin)