AFP and Fraud Fusion Taskforce cracks down on three NDIS fraudsters

Publisher
Australian Federal Police
Date published
May 2026

Relevant impacts:  Government Outcomes Impact, Financial Impact, Business Impact

The Australian Federal Police (AFP), working with state and federal partners, has charged and seized assets as part of 3 investigations into suspected fraud against the NDIS.

All 3 investigations involved collaboration with the Fraud Fusion Taskforce (FFT).

The cases resulted in:

  • A search warrant against a Villawood man and director of an NDIS provider suspected of $3.5 million in fraud.
  • The arrest of a 33-year-old Sydney man suspected of falsely claiming $1.5 million.
  • The seizure of cash and illicit silver and gold across 5 Queensland properties alleged to be proceeds of crime from NDIS fraud.

In all 3 cases, there are suspected links to criminal syndicates.

These cases show the risk organised crime poses to government programs. They also show why agencies must work together across jurisdictions to fight fraud.

In each case, the Fraud Fusion Taskforce helped agencies to work together. This work led to the recovery of defrauded money and disrupted suspected organised crime.

Access the sources for case 1, case 2 and case 3.

Related fraudster personas

The Organised

The Organised are groups which use a combination of methods in planned, coordinated and sophisticated ways to dishonestly gain benefits.
ICON 033: Organised persona

The Exploiter

The Exploiter uses something for a wrongful purpose to dishonestly gain personal benefits.
ICON 031: Exploiter persona

The Coercer

The Coercer influences, manipulates or bribes another person to act in a desired way to dishonestly gain personal benefits.
ICON 030: Coercer persona

Related countermeasures

Collaborate with strategic partners

Collaborate with strategic partners such as other government entities, committees, working groups and taskforces. This allows you to share capability, information and intelligence and to prevent and disrupt fraud.

Deterrence messaging

Providing clear statements and communications on entity practices to detect and respond to fraud can discourage fraudulent or corrupt activities. Staff and clients will be less able to rationalise or justify fraudulent or corrupt conduct when informed of the outcomes of fraud.

Trained and qualified staff

Provide staff with adequate training to increase likelihood that correct and consistent processes and decisions will be applied.

Legislation and policies

Legislation and policy can help prevent, detect and respond to fraud, such as by outlining clear rules, regulations and criteria, allowing entities to collect, use and disclose information and allowing entities to enforce penalties and recover fraud losses.

Collect accurate and relevant data

Whole-of-Government policies require us to have a high level of confidence in data when providing government services and payments. Create policies, rules, processes and systems to collect accurate and relevant data to help: • process claims • make decisions • check and verify data • analyse data to detect fraud • investigate potential fraud • define new indicators of fraud.

Watchlists

Create lists to quickly compare information to automate or require further actions.

Investigate fraud

 Investigate fraud in line with the Australian Government Investigation Standards (AGIS).

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