Melbourne fraud network charged over $800,000 NDIS and child care fraud

Publisher
Australian Federal Police
Date published
November 2020

Relevant impacts: Human impact, Government outcomes impact and Financial impact.

Five people in Melbourne have been charged with defrauding both the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the Child Care Subsidy of $800,000.

The principal offender is a mother of 7, with a child on an NDIS plan. She is accused of spending some of the NDIS funds allocated for her child for herself. The woman is also accused of setting up NDIS provider businesses to exploit people with a disability for profit.

It is alleged that due to the business, 6 people with disability did not receive the full level of care they were entitled to. On top of this, the woman is accused of fraudulently obtaining benefits by employing her romantic, live-in partner as the carer of her children. The Australian Federal Police allege that the man instead worked at his business and the subsidy rebate was used to employ nannies.

All face jail terms if convicted.

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Related fraudster personas

The Fabricator

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

The Organised

The Organised are groups which use a combination of methods in planned, coordinated and sophisticated ways to dishonestly gain benefits.

The Concealer

The Concealer hides their actions from being seen or known about to dishonestly gain personal benefits.

The Exploiter

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

Related countermeasures

Collaborate with strategic partners

Collaborate with strategic partners such as other government entities, committees, working groups and taskforces. This allows you to share capability, information and intelligence and to prevent and disrupt fraud.

Clear and specific eligibility requirements

Clear eligibility requirements and only approve requests or claims that meet the criteria. This can include internal requests for staff access to systems or information.

Data analysis

Analyse data to improve processes and controls, increase payment accuracy and find and prevent non-compliance, fraud and corruption.

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.

Automatic notifications

Automatically notify clients or staff about high-risk events or transactions. This can alert them to potential fraud and avoid delays in investigating and responding to fraud.

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.

Investigate fraud

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

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