The Fabricator
The Fabricator invents or produces something that is false to dishonestly gain personal benefits.
This might involve creating false invoices or other types of records for personal gain.
Examples:
- A business fabricates documents to receive a grant.
- A service provider fabricates receipts to receive a rebate.
Case studies
Four people have been charged by the Australia Federal Police (AFP) for allegedly submitting false claims to gain early access to superannuation savings. This scheme is designed to assist members of the community who are in severe financial hardship. They were arrested by the AFP’s Anti-Fraud Taskforce Iris following a referral from the Australian Taxation Office-led Serious Financial Crime Taskforce.
Two women from Port Macquarie were arrested after allegedly making suspicious claims for bushfire and coronavirus welfare assistance. The women are alleged to have assumed 25 identities to try to claim more than $27,000 in welfare payments they were not entitled to of which more than $10,000 was paid.
Countermeasures
Counter the Fabricator using measures that support information sharing and verification:
Make sure requests or claims use a specific form, process or system for consistency.
Make sure forms or system controls require mandatory information to support claims or requests.
Apply limits on requests, claims or processes, such as maximum claim amounts or time periods. Enforce these limits using IT system controls.
Verify request or claim information you receive with an independent and credible source.
Automatically match data with another internal or external source to obtain or verify relevant details or supporting evidence. This countermeasure is supported by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's Guidelines on data matching in Australian government administration.
Create lists to quickly compare information to automate or require further actions.
Have processes in place to prevent, identify and correct duplicate records, identities, requests or claims.
Use system workflows to make sure all requests, claims or activities are only approved by the appropriate decision-maker.
Put protections in place to prevent data from being manipulated or misused.
Automatically notify clients or staff about high-risk events or transactions. This can alert them to potential fraud and avoid delays in investigating and responding to fraud.
Reconcile records to make sure that two sets of records (usually the balances of two accounts) match. Reconciling records and accounts can detect if something is different from what is standard, normal, or expected, which may indicate fraud.
Establish exception reports to identify activities that are different from the standard, normal, or expected process and should be further investigated.
Conduct internal or external audits or reviews to evaluate the process, purpose and outcome of activities. Clients, public officials or contractors can take advantage of weaknesses in government programs and systems to commit fraud, act corruptly, and avoid exposure.
Fraud detection software programs automatically analyse data to detect what is different from what is standard, normal, or expected and may indicate fraud or corruption.
Capture documents and other evidence for requests, claims and activities to detect, analyse, investigate and disrupt fraudulent activity.