Pharmacist ordered to pay $1.9million

Publisher
Australian Federal Police
Date published
December 2022

A Brisbane pharmacist charged with defrauding the Commonwealth's Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme has been ordered to pay $1.9million to the Commonwealth pursuant to section 116(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Cth). The debt will be paid from the sale of restrained assets, including property, shares and cryptocurrency. The pharmacist claimed PBS payments for pharmaceutical benefits which were not actually supplied to the eligible recipients.

Money from the liquidated assets will be paid into the Confiscated Assets Account, which is managed by the Australian Financial Security Authority on behalf of the Commonwealth. These funds can be distributed by the Attorney-General to benefit the community through crime prevention, intervention or diversion programs or other law enforcement initiatives across Australia.

Access the source

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.

The Deceiver

The Deceiver makes others believe something that is not true to dishonestly gain personal benefits.

Related countermeasures

Verify information

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

Declarations or acknowledgements

Use declarations or acknowledgments to both communicate and confirm that a person understands their obligations and the consequences for non-compliance. The declaration could be written or verbal, and should encourage compliance and deter fraud.

Data analysis

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

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.

Fraud detection software

Fraud detection software programs automatically analyse data to detect what is different from what is standard, normal or expected and may indicate fraud or corruption.

Audit logging

Audit logging is system-generated audit trails of staff, client or third-party interactions that help with fraud investigations.

Investigate fraud

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

Was this page helpful?