Police bust fake medical report ring

Fevzi Kızılkoyun-ANKARA

The police in Ankara have cracked down on a fraud ring that included owners and staff of private health centers which prepare and sell fake medical reports, initially detaining 17 people.

A 300-page statement of the chief suspect in the case to the police detailed how the fraud network operated.

The members of the ring cooperated with four private medical centers and doctors, nurses and secretaries working at those facilities.

The fraud ring had prepared and sold fake medical reports to thousands of people. Individuals bought those reports to call in sick, avoiding work. People were charged 1,250 Turkish Liras (around $85) for a report, suggesting that the holder of the report is incapable of working for 10 days. The price was much higher at between 3,000 liras and 5,000 liras for a medical report asking for a 30-day resting time for the patient.

Those who wanted to obtain those fake documents did not bother to go to those medical centers only sent their ID info and wired money for the reports.

Owners of those private medical centers were aware of the fraud scheme, and doctors working there were paid according to the number of reports they issued.

In his statement to the police, the alleged ringleader claimed that each medical center, involved in the scheme, would prepare such reports for up to 500 people each month. “The clients included civil servants, bureaucrats, teachers, doctors, health care workers and intelligence officers,” he said.

In the operation against the fraud ring, the police detained 17 people, including the owners of four such medical centers, doctors, nurses and secretaries. One of the owners was arrested, while three others were released on bail.