Case studies

Australian Federal Police arrested a group of 5 people who allegedly stole $1.1 million from those managing the affairs of 70 people with National Disability Insurance Scheme plans. The group allegedly established 3 registered providers under the National Disability Insurance Scheme and provided over-inflated invoices or no service at all. If found guilty of the alleged offences, they face between 12 months and up to 10 years in prison.

A registered National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) services provider accessed the accounts of 230 Scheme participants between June and August 2018. He made 392 requests for payment from the NDIS for services that he did not provide. He pleaded guilty to defrauding the NDIS of more than $370,000 and attempting to obtain a further amount of more than $85,000. The man was sentenced to 4 years in prison. 

A Victorian man falsely claiming to be a qualified in vitro fertilisation (IVF) specialist performed a range of treatments on 30 victims. The man who never studied medicine deliberately deceived his victims, defrauded them of $370,000 and performed invasive procedures on their bodies.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) identified a company had been importing counterfeit condoms. The TGA proactively contacted customers who purchased the counterfeit condoms and organised a recall in addition to taking action against the supplier. The TGA’s response received positive media coverage and boosted public confidence in the TGA.

Vulnerabilities within the Australian Government’s Home Insulation Scheme led to systemic fraud. By April 2010 there were 961 cases where more than one insulator had submitted a claim for payment for insulating the same premises. All were referred for further investigation.

A well-organised child care fraud syndicate allegedly defrauded the Commonwealth Government’s Family Day Care Program of $4 million over a 10 month period.

A Queensland doctor was found guilty of defrauding Medicare out of more than $360,000.

A Melbourne woman was convicted of fraud after using $600,000 worth of resident’s deposits from an Aged Care facility. The company went into liquidation shortly afterwards leaving 42 residents without a home and debts of $4.5 million. She deceived residents when she told them their deposit money would be held in a trust account and that interest gained from the money would be used to reduce accommodation fees.

A researcher from the University of Queensland claimed to have undertaken research on treatment strategies for Parkinson’s Disease, however the research was never carried out and their research article was entirely fabricated. After learning about the fraud, a second academic chose to continue the fraud and apply for grants using the fraudulent research. The two were convicted and sentenced on 22 charges of fraud and attempted fraud. Both were sentenced to 2 years in prison. This was Australia's first criminal prosecution for research fraud.

A Sydney man pretended to be a tax agent to more than 1,000 people and charged them $100 for his services. He also stole $12,866.62 worth of tax refunds from several people by changing their myGov account details to direct the funds to his account. The man received a 2.5 year prison sentence to be served in the Community. He had his assets seized and was also ordered to pay compensation to the Australian Taxation Office and his victims.