KUALA LUMPUR, March 29 — A chairman of several disabled welfare homes and his family members have allegedly raked in up to RM2.4 million by filing false claims with Social Security Organisation (Socso) and four other insurance companies here.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Department director Datuk Seri Amar Singh said swift action by the police managed to stop the suspect and his relatives from claiming RM30 million, as 48 false claims with Socso and the insurance companies have been detected so far.

Amar said the suspect, who is the alleged mastermind of the syndicate, had so far collected RM1.2 million with a further RM12 million sanctioned for future payouts in stages by Socso.

Similarly, with the insurance companies, the alleged mastermind had so far collected RM1.2 million from two claims and had two more claims worth RM1.2 million approved for payment.

Amar said the alleged mastermind, who has been active since 2016, managed to pull off the scam by convincing disabled people to be part of his syndicate to dupe hospitals, Socso and insurance companies.

"The way this was done is the suspect would bring disabled people during check-ups at government hospitals. However, the patients actually registered were his family members who have no medical problems.

"For example, the suspect would register a healthy person at the hospital and claim that the person had suffered a stroke. However, when the doctor called the so-called patient in for an X-ray, the mastermind would send a person disabled by a stroke instead.

"With all the paperwork from the doctor, the suspect would then proceed to file the claims with Socso or the insurance companies,” he said.

Amar said the disabled people and patients who suffered real strokes were in on the scam and paid to help.

He said the alleged mastermind used his "chairman” position to influence disabled people from the welfare homes to be part of his syndicate.

Amar said the mastermind had registered a company under a business enterprise and made legitimate payments to Socso for the past 24 months.

"His accomplice/relatives who carried out the acts were registered as ‘staff’; however, the business was inactive. He created the company just to pull off his scam.

"Everyone was roped in: His father, mother, siblings and drivers. This is the first time we have heard of such as case,” said Amar.

He said a total of 10 suspects, including the alleged mastermind, were nabbed during a special operation in Sepang two weeks ago.

Amar said police launched investigations into the syndicate after Socso staff suspected something was amiss.

"Socso staff alerted police after they spotted the suspect and his accomplices walking around completely fine and few days later, acting like a disabled person and could be seen limping.”

Socso, also known as Perkeso (Pertubuhan Keselamatan Sosial), is a Malaysian government agency that was established to provide social security protection to Malaysian employees under the Employees’ Social Security Act 1969.

Socso has two insurance schemes for its members: The "Employment Injury Scheme”, which provides coverage for workplace accidents, and the "Invalidity Scheme”, which provides coverage to employees who suffer from invalidity or death due to any cause and not related to their employment.