Man uses dual identities to claim dual benefits
Date published
October 2018
Relevant impacts: Reputational impact, business impact and financial impact
A Melbourne man used a second identity to claim and receive the Newstart Allowance and Disability Support Pension at the same time. The total proven amount defrauded was $243,875.26. The fraud was initially detected from data matching activities between the Australian Taxation Office and Services Australia. The man was sentenced to 4 years in prison.
Related fraudster personas
Related countermeasures
Confirm the identity or attribute of the individual.
Evidence of identity should be collected and verified using policies, rules, processes and systems to make sure only known, authorised identities can gain access to information stored in networks and systems.
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.
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