Lies and forgery lead to largest single case of child care fraud in Australia
Date published
June 2017
Relevant impacts: Financial impact, reputational impact, business impact and industry impact
An Albury woman used her child care business to fraudulently claim the Special Child Care Benefit, which is meant to subsidise children from disadvantaged and vulnerable backgrounds. On 80 occasions the woman forged documents to fraudulently claim $3,646,269.72 in child care benefits. The woman lied about when the children attended and the number of hours the children attended care. She also claimed a much higher hourly rate than the standard one charged. The woman was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
Related fraudster personas
Related countermeasures
Make sure forms or system controls require mandatory information to support claims or requests.
Verify any requests or claim information you receive with an independent and credible source.
Apply limits on requests, claims or processes, such as maximum claim amounts or time periods. Enforce these limits using IT system controls.
Establish exception reports to identify activities that are different from the standard, normal, or expected process and should be further investigated.
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.
These are processes that identify and recover debts owed by staff, customers and third parties.
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