Former Services Australia employee uses position to create fictional identity and claim payments

Relevant impacts: Human impact, government impact, reputational impact, financial impact and business impact

A former Services Australia employee used their position to create a fictional identity and claim Jobseeker payments over March and April 2021 totalling $3,828.

He created a JobSeeker claim for the fake identity, entering notes into the system to give it a feeling of authenticity, and directed the payments for the identity to his son’s bank account.

He also asked a colleague at Services Australia to generate one JobSeeker payment for the identity on his behalf.

The Court was told that the former employee was struggling financially and his wife wanted to return to their family in Alice Springs due to the cost of living and housing in Canberra.

The former employee plead guilty to engaging in dishonest conduct as a public official to obtain a benefit for himself and general dishonesty causing a loss. He was sentenced to 6 month's jail, but released immediately on an 18-month good behaviour order with 60 hours of community service.