21/10/2024
Feeling lucky, fraudsters?
A crack team of fraud investigators has stopped a whopping $75m worth of payments to National Disability Insurance Scheme crooks in four months by “outsmarting the rorters”.
In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Herald Sun , NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said the “tempo for investigations, prosecutions and convictions” was ramping up as he worked to a tight deadline of cleaning up the beleaguered NDIS system before he exited.
“What we are seeing is the hard work since we got elected come to fruition,” he said.
“This is all because these venal, bottom-dwelling, scum-sucking opportunists are now beginning to face their overdue reckoning.” Mr Shorten, who last month announced he was quitting politics after 30 years, said he still had a lot of work to do and anyone thinking they could continue to rip off participants and the NDIS needed “to have a rethink”.
In one of several major busts, a cleaner from western Sydney admitted ripping off more than $1m from the NDIS.
Tamara G*i Berridge, who ran a Kellyville-based business called Magic Maid Possible, pleaded guilty to fraud-related offences and will be sentenced next year.
She was also issued with a banning order preventing her from providing support and services to NDIS-funded participants for two years.
In another bust, a Western Sydney man was sentenced to 10 months’ jail for dealing with the proceeds of crime relating to a fraud involving $69,000.
Kareem Al Shamare had been an NDIS participant before having his access to the scheme revoked.
It was found he had colluded with family members – who had been operating as a disability provider – to defraud the NDIS.
Those family members will face sentencing in the coming months over their roles. The Fraud Fusion task force data gurus was not only sniffing out claims that did not add up but their work was bolstered by the “disability community playing its part” and giving more than 5000 tip-offs.
Mr Shorten said the latest cases were a timely reminder of the National Disability Insurance Agency’s enhanced capability to detect and prevent fraud.
“The establishment of the Fraud Fusion task force means you’re taking on the collaborative power of 21 commonwealth agencies, as well as state-based police, working together,” he said.
“For any dodgy provider doing the wrong thing, I guess the question you have to ask yourself is: Do you feel lucky?
“Providers need to understand that they can’t be half honest. If the NDIA suspects something might be dodgy about a submitted claim, the agency won’t pay it and wil make inquiries. “If fraudulent activity is detected, its first priority is ensuring participant safety and welfare – meaning the agency will move participants to alternative providers – and may then launch an investigation into the provider.” - Herald Sun
