(Yicai Global) July 24 -- Auto insurance fraud accounts for 80 percent of all insurance fraud cases in China, data from state-owned news agency Xinhua show. Insurance fraud, in which offenders use insurance contracts to gain illegal profits, has become prevalent in China in recent years.

This kind of fraud not only directly hurts legitimate interests of consumers and erodes insurers' operating profits, but also indirectly pushes up insurance product prices by driving up costs, said a report from a press briefing on anti-auto insurance fraud in Beijing's insurance industry.

China Insurance Information Technology Management Co. (CIITM) uncovered more than 1,500 potential cases and reported them to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), said Li Ying, head of the CIRC's Beijing office.

CIITM used its information system and big data technology to identify high-risk compensation cases. The commission will work with public security organs in follow-up investigations.

The CIRC's Beijing office and the Beijing Insurance Association have been clamping down on auto insurance fraud in conjunction with the police and prosecutors. It will continue to share anti-fraud information in the insurance industry and set up a mechanism for reporting and sharing high-risk information to help guard against risks.

Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei insurance regulators will also work together to combat insurance fraud as some perpetrators look to exploit inadequate information reporting on cross-regional compensation cases. They will set up systems to boost information sharing, reporting and discussion, and co-investigation of inter-regional cases.