Police of Tra Vinh Province arrested the director of a company that only employed pregnant women so they could take advantage of benefits from maternity insurance.

Doan Van Cuong, Director of Online Communication Company, in Can Tho City, was arrested for his involvement.

Cuong allegedly earned hundreds of million of VND by finding loopholes in the law as a former employee at Can Tho insurance agency.

He resigned from the agency because for personal reasons, then started his own company with branches in Tra Vinh, An Giang, Kien Giang, and Vinh Long. His staff travelled in search of pregnant women in rural areas in order to persuade them sell their personal information for VND2-4 million (USD95.46-USD190.93).

After attaining the information and the women gave birth, the company would collect maternity insurance benefits for the women 'employees'.

The scam was discovered by Vinh Long Province insurance agency when Cuong's company requested a payment of VND119.5 million (USD5,704) for five workers on January 1, 2012. The Head of Vinh Long insurance agency, Huynh Thi Ngoc Linh, said the workers all had their insurance paid exactly six months prior to the claim, the minimum requirement to collect maternity benefits. After an investigation, they found out that none of these women actually worked for Cuong's company.

Cuong successfully scammed over VND150 million (USD7,187) in maternity insurance claims in Tra Vinh Province. Currently, Tra Vinh Police are expanding their investigation.

Some legal experts have said the law is in serious need of amendments, including raising the required insurance payment from six to nine months.

Phung Thi Hoa, an attorney, said if the company had claimed that their staff were paid VND16 million (USD763.7) per month, they could receive maternity benefits worth VND64 million (USD3,054) for four-month maternity leave, in addition to an allowance equivalent to two-months minimum wage. The benefits were much higher than the initial cost of paying six months of social insurance, which comes to only VND23.04 million (USD1,099) for six months.

Source: Dtinews