Authorities clean up mess left by dishonest contractor

Publisher
Comcare
Date published
January 2019

Relevant impacts: Human impact, financial impact, government outcomes impact and reputational impact.

A cleaner contracted by Comcare to support 2 compensation recipients received payments totalling $22,289.57 for 42 invoiced services that were never provided.

The fraud was detected after Comcare contacted a compensation recipient in 2013 to confirm they had received the cleaning services. The compensation recipient notified Comcare they had not received any cleaning from the provider for over a year, and had been advised that the cleaner had moved to New Zealand.

In the course of the investigation, Comcare obtained information from the Department of Home Affairs to confirm that the cleaner had been residing offshore since December 2011. Despite not being in Australia, the cleaner continued to invoice Comcare for services from December 2011 until the fraud was detected in 2013.

The cleaner defended their actions by stating they had an agreement with another local cleaner who would provide the services on their behalf while they resided in New Zealand. However, investigations demonstrated that no cleaning was provided to the compensation recipients per the invoices, and no money was ever exchanged between the 2 cleaners for these services.

In July 2019, the cleaner was found guilty of 2 charges of obtaining a financial benefit by deception. The cleaner was convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 6 months for the first charge, and a term of imprisonment of 3 months for the second charge. The cleaner was also ordered to repay the money that was fraudulently obtained.

Related fraudster personas

The Fabricator

The Fabricator invents or produces something that is false to dishonestly gain personal benefits.

The Exploiter

The Exploiter uses something for a wrongful purpose to dishonestly gain personal benefits.

Related countermeasures

Verify information

Verify any requests or claim information you receive with an independent and credible source.

Match data

Match data with the authoritative source and verify relevant details or supporting evidence. Services such as the Identity Matching Service can be used to verify identity credentials back to the authoritative source when the information is an Australian or state and territory government issued identity credential. This countermeasure is supported by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's Guidelines on data matching in Australian government administration.

Complaints handling

Allow clients, staff and third parties to lodge complaints about actions or decisions they disagree with. This may identify fraud or corruption as a cause for complaints, such as a failure to receive an expected payment.

Audits or reviews

Internal or external audits or reviews evaluate the process, purpose and outcome of activities. Clients, public officials or contractors can take advantage of weaknesses in government programs and systems to commit fraud, act corruptly, and avoid exposure.

Investigate fraud

 Investigate fraud in line with the Australian Government Investigation Standards (AGIS).

Document capture and storage

Capture documents and other evidence for requests, claims and activities to detect, analyse, investigate and disrupt fraudulent activity.

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