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Criminal proceedings for credit and insurance fraud increased last year

2025-04-10 07:22:00, Ekonomi CNA

Proceedings for criminal offenses of credit fraud and insurance fraud increased last year.

According to information from the General Prosecutor's Office, in 2024 the number of proceedings for the criminal offense of credit fraud reached 29 cases, up from 13 cases that were registered in 2023. After declining for two consecutive years, proceedings for this criminal offense increased again last year.

The specific weight of this criminal offense in the group of criminal offenses against fraud for 2024 was 4.96%, while in 2023 it was 2.25%.

For this criminal offense, nine individuals were convicted by the courts last year, the same number as in 2023.

Article 146 of the Criminal Code defines credit fraud as “fraud in the documents submitted, unfairly obtaining credit, fictitiously registering in mortgage objects that do not exist, or beyond their real value, or owned by another, done with the intention of not returning the loan received.” According to the Criminal Code, this offense is punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to seven years.

The most widespread form of this fraud in recent years has been obtaining bank loans with forged documents or using other people's identification. These criminal acts have become a concern for some financial institutions, exposing them to reputational damage.

According to the General Prosecutor's Office, 20 proceedings were registered last year for the criminal offense of "insurance fraud", up from 13 in 2023.

The specific weight of this criminal offense in the group of "Fraud" criminal offenses was 3.42%, while in 2023 it was 2.25%.

Seven individuals were convicted by the court for this criminal offense, out of six individuals who were convicted during 2023.

Article 145 of the Criminal Code defines insurance fraud as “presenting false circumstances regarding the object being insured, or creating false circumstances and presenting them in documents in order to unfairly obtain insurance.” This criminal offense is punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to five years.

Insurance fraud is mainly related to the staging of insurance events or the falsification of their circumstances, with the aim of obtaining compensation from insurance companies./ Monitor.al