HK gov’t to review criteria, scope of TAVA scheme eligibility

This is due to reports of individuals defrauding the said scheme.

The Hong Kong government will be reviewing the eligibility criteria and scope of assistance of the Traffic Accident Victims Assistance (TAVA) Scheme following reports of fraud.

This is to ensure that traffic accident victims with genuine needs receive timely assistance, prevent abuse, and punish criminals who commit fraud cases.

It has been reported that the police have recently arrested 275 individuals suspected of defrauding the TAVA scheme by producing fake medical proof or staging traffic accidents.

Relevant cases involved 121 staged traffic accidents, amounting to approximately $14m.

To deter potential abuse, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) has implemented measures to combat fraudulent claims.

According to Chris Sun, secretary for Labour and Welfare, SWD cross-references medical certificates with public and private healthcare providers and requests re-assessments for questionable claims.

“Over the past three years, the SWD had verified medical certificates with public/private medical institutions for a total of about 5,600 times,” Sun said.

“If false medical information, fraudulence or other criminal elements are suspected to be involved during the processing of application, the SWD will refer the case to the Police for investigation and will immediately cease processing the relevant application,” he added.

Over the past three years, the SWD has referred a total of 575 suspicious cases to the police for investigation, and amongst them, 275 individuals were arrested for allegedly providing false medical certificates to the SWD.

Aside from this, random reviews of submitted medical proof are conducted, focusing on applicants with repeated claims or those showing suspicious patterns.

Lastly, the SWD will timely inform insurance companies upon their disbursement of TAVA payments to the applicant to avoid duplicate compensation.

The SWD has also launched public awareness initiatives, including informing applicants about the legal consequences of fraud during the application process, broadcasting anti-fraud messages via press releases and videos, and requiring applicants to acknowledge their understanding of the penalties for providing false information.