The Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) has uncovered a series of suspected forged medical certificates used in applications for early pension withdrawals and has referred the cases to law enforcement for criminal investigation.
The suspicious claims cited "terminal illness" or "total incapacity" as grounds for early access to the pension fund.
After spotting the irregularities, the eMPF Platform team contacted the relevant doctors to verify the information and discovered the suspected forgeries. They have since rejected the claims and handed the cases over to the authorities.
MPFA chairman Ayesha Macpherson Lau stated in her blog that centralizing administrative tasks through the new eMPF Platform has facilitated the identification of potential connections between different claims, leading to earlier and more effective follow-up actions.
This is particularly effective in spotting fraudulent activities orchestrated by criminal syndicates across multiple MPF schemes, she noted.
To combat this issue, the MPFA has been actively collaborating with both public and private medical professional groups since last year to strengthen the verification process for medical certificates, thereby reducing the risk of abuse and forgery.
Additionally, a dedicated task force has been established in partnership with the eMPF team to review and overhaul the vetting mechanism for early withdrawal claims.
The group is formulating a series of measures spanning regulatory, operational, and law enforcement levels to adopt a multi-pronged approach to preventing and deterring suspicious claims.
