Between 2017 and 2022, a pharmacist invented transactions relating to treatments prescribed to six patients in order to divert money from Social Security. In total, this man in his fifties stole 617,181 euros from the French health system. On Wednesday March 13, 2024, he was sentenced before the Besançon criminal court to three years in prison, including two years suspended. He was also sentenced to repay all the money stolen from Social Security and to pay a fine of 30,000 euros, as reported byAFP, Friday March 15, 2024. The pharmacist used this swindled money to finance his real estate projects. Thus, three of his apartments were seized in Fréjus, Val d’Isère and Morteau. Furthermore, the man was deprived of a vehicle worth 50,000 euros. His life insurance was also seized by the courts in order to finish reimbursing the CPAM du Doubs. It was the anti-fraud unit of the Doubs gendarmerie which carried out the investigation into this scam after receiving a report of suspected fraud.
Social Security fraud: a fairly widespread practice
This type of scam is unfortunately not new. Indeed, as reported by our colleagues from Capitala pharmacist was sentenced to twelve months in prison, six of which were suspended, for Social Security fraud. This amounted to 1,161,000 euros after four years of invoicing intentionally erroneous. Her conviction took place in June 2023. During her trial, the latter defended herself by explaining that she had to provide her husband with a very lavish lifestyle: “Money was needed every day, money for my husband. It was hell, says the pharmacist. I was forced to obey him. It was to ensure his lifestyle, with restaurants and cars like a Porschea Mercedes, a Jaguar, not to mention the motorcycles“, she confided in front of the judge, as reported The Parisian at the time of judgment.