Post by Banjo on Feb 19, 2012 15:55:35 GMT 7
Centrelink's recruitment drive
As the welfare department begins investigating new cheats, it has started recruiting private investigators to help bust the biggest offenders.
So who will the latest bust be targetting?
Believe it or not, the owners of two mega houses in Australia's most exclusive locations are on the dole. It’s not often you find Centrelink fraudsters living in a $3 million mansion, but that’s what Centrelink allege is happening in a Point Piper mansion.
Centrelink claims Chinese couple Jian Wang and his wife Yan Ping Gu received Newstart and parenting payments as well as Austudy benefits between 1995 and 2007.
And the whole time they were living in the $3.1 million Point Piper home, as well as their other multimillion property in the Eastern Suburbs.
Despite crying poor, the pair’s finances were far from that. They were hoarding up to $600,000 in cash, in a cupboard. Centrelink detected the problem and the Federal Administrative Appeals Tribunal heard the case.
The Tribunal has effectively found them guilty of fraud. The couple claim they’re innocent, and were sent the money by their mum and dad in China. The Tribunal rejected both claims, but is yet to rule on whether they should repay the benefits.
Wang and Gu also tried to argue they separated in 2001. They’re now appealing the decision, but have gone missing in the meantime.
In 2010, 8,000 Australians were busted rorting the Centrelink system. But last year Centrelink only caught out 4,000 – that’s half that number.
It’s a $40 million slide in the amount of illegally claimed funds it recovered in 2011. However Centrelinks big claw back begins now, as it’s boosting its investigative ranks to make up its losses.
Public tenders have been released around the country, calling on the nation’s best private investigators to stamp out Centrelink fraud.
Michael Rumore from Rumore and Associates has busted fraudsters before. “These investigators are highly skilled, highly trained, very well equipped, and it is precisely the work they do - obtaining evidence by surveillance,” he said.
The Government’s greatest weapon is everyday people dobbing in their mates.
“It’s about identity - identifying the target or suspect, and in some of those Centrelink matters it could be a matter of dual identity. Who is the person at the ATM at that particular time of day, collecting money under a certain name?”
While Wang and his wife plan their appeal, the Government is planning their next blitz.
“The more investigators they have out there the better they can manage that risk,” Rumore concluded.
au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/money/article/-/12916817/centrelink-s-recruitment-drive/
As the welfare department begins investigating new cheats, it has started recruiting private investigators to help bust the biggest offenders.
So who will the latest bust be targetting?
Believe it or not, the owners of two mega houses in Australia's most exclusive locations are on the dole. It’s not often you find Centrelink fraudsters living in a $3 million mansion, but that’s what Centrelink allege is happening in a Point Piper mansion.
Centrelink claims Chinese couple Jian Wang and his wife Yan Ping Gu received Newstart and parenting payments as well as Austudy benefits between 1995 and 2007.
And the whole time they were living in the $3.1 million Point Piper home, as well as their other multimillion property in the Eastern Suburbs.
Despite crying poor, the pair’s finances were far from that. They were hoarding up to $600,000 in cash, in a cupboard. Centrelink detected the problem and the Federal Administrative Appeals Tribunal heard the case.
The Tribunal has effectively found them guilty of fraud. The couple claim they’re innocent, and were sent the money by their mum and dad in China. The Tribunal rejected both claims, but is yet to rule on whether they should repay the benefits.
Wang and Gu also tried to argue they separated in 2001. They’re now appealing the decision, but have gone missing in the meantime.
In 2010, 8,000 Australians were busted rorting the Centrelink system. But last year Centrelink only caught out 4,000 – that’s half that number.
It’s a $40 million slide in the amount of illegally claimed funds it recovered in 2011. However Centrelinks big claw back begins now, as it’s boosting its investigative ranks to make up its losses.
Public tenders have been released around the country, calling on the nation’s best private investigators to stamp out Centrelink fraud.
Michael Rumore from Rumore and Associates has busted fraudsters before. “These investigators are highly skilled, highly trained, very well equipped, and it is precisely the work they do - obtaining evidence by surveillance,” he said.
The Government’s greatest weapon is everyday people dobbing in their mates.
“It’s about identity - identifying the target or suspect, and in some of those Centrelink matters it could be a matter of dual identity. Who is the person at the ATM at that particular time of day, collecting money under a certain name?”
While Wang and his wife plan their appeal, the Government is planning their next blitz.
“The more investigators they have out there the better they can manage that risk,” Rumore concluded.
au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/money/article/-/12916817/centrelink-s-recruitment-drive/