A serious warning has been issued after more than 33,000 scammers tried to claim $33 million of the government’s disaster recovery payments since January 2022.
Services Australia’s fraud checks stopped the payments from going to the fake claims but Government Services Minister Bill Shorten warned others of following this summer.
He said the disaster payments were for those genuinely in need after an emergency.
“The vast majority of people who submit claims are honest and are in urgent need of help. But unfortunately, in every disaster, we see both organised and opportunistic crooks trying to take advantage of other people’s misfortune,” he said.
“They think fake disaster claims will fly under the radar because Services Australia is, quite rightly, focussed on delivering support payments quickly.”
Shorten said there were measures in place to sniff out fraudsters, and assured them that they will be stopped.
“It’s not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’ you’ll be caught,” he said.
Since July 2019, more than 250 people have been convicted of disaster payment fraud.
Some frauds involve large sums of money acquired using stolen or fabricated identities, while others are one-off claims for bogus damage, providing fake or doctored images, or using a fake address.
Most recently, a man was sentenced after going on the run after pleading guilty to using 17 stolen identities and 66 fake identities to fraudulently claim payments for the Far North Queensland floods in February 2019.
He is now serving the remainder of his four-year prison sentence and has been ordered to repay the money.
In another incident in July last year, a Queensland man was sentenced to 122 days imprisonment after using five stolen identities to claim fake payments for the NSW floods in March 2021.
“Many of these people have faced years in jail and have had to repay the money they fraudulently claimed,” Shorten said.
“Whether you’re an organised criminal taking the taxpayer for a ride, or an opportunist who sees a natural disaster as a chance for some quick cash, we’re making sure you don’t get away with it.
“You’ll get caught, and you will face serious consequences.”
