Fraud in Review Volume 5

David Whitehouse-Hayes profile photo

Welcome to our first newsletter of the year! We trust that the year 2025 has begun positively for all our practitioners. It's been an exciting few months for the Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre as we've been making progress on a number of key projects, and we want to extend our sincere thanks for your continued engagement. We've seen the release of three new products, which we hope will be valuable resources for you: The Countering Fraud and Corruption by Design Toolkit, the IPSFF Fraud Loss Measurement Framework and the Controlling Fraud and Corruption Risk Leading Practice Guide. Find out more about these products below. We’ve also successfully hosted our 10th Counter Fraud Practitioner Training Program in February 2025, and head to Melbourne next week.

Make sure you check out our Events and training section below for more information about upcoming training, Communities of Practice and other opportunities available for Commonwealth officials!

We've also been fortunate to have the support of David Whitehouse-Hayes, our secondee from the UK Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA), who has been working on developing a new Fraud Savings Measurement Framework, alongside our dedicated international and domestic working group members.

As part of his secondment in Australia, David will be hosting a webinar to share his insights about how the PSFA is modernising its approach to countering fraud, through its Counter Fraud Functional Strategy and prevention focus. We invite you to register for the session below in our events and training section.

From Brighton to Canberra – a prevention journey

The journey of an investigator to a founding member of the UK Government Counter Fraud Profession, and how that road led David Whitehouse-Hayes to Canberra.

Find out more about David’s journey.

Who you gonna call? Needing ghostbusters in private education

Nefarious education providers or ‘ghost colleges’ find ways to exploit and defraud – discover how government agencies are fighting back and continue to address fraud in the private education sector.

Find out who you are going to call.

Fraud and corruption training gets a fun makeover

Sharing capability uplift efforts from our stakeholders and how the Centre can help you!

Find out more about the makeover

Australia back in the top 10 of the Corruption Perceptions Index

Australia’s ranking on the Corruption Perceptions Index has improved! Read more about Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perception Index, and their implications for Australian integrity policy.

Find out more about how Australia’s back in the top 10.

Publication releases

Controlling Fraud and Corruption Risk Leading Practice Guide

The Centre has recently released its latest leading practice guidance, the Controlling Fraud and Corruption Risk Leading Practice Guide. The purpose of this guide is to help Australian Government officials better understand the psychological, behavioural, organisational and societal factors that lead to fraud and corruption, and give them tools and strategies to design purposeful, workable solutions to influence these factors and reduce these risks.

Access the Controlling Fraud and Corruption Risk Leading Practice Guide.

New IPSFF Fraud Loss Measurement Framework

The International Public Sector Fraud Forum (IPSFF) has published its new Fraud Loss Measurement Framework, making this incredibly important capability more accessible to all public sector organisations within the US, UK, Canada, NZ and Australia.

Access the New IPSFF Fraud Loss Measurement Framework.

Countering Fraud and Corruption by Design Toolkit

This comprehensive resource has been crafted by the Centre to help facilitate collaboration across Australian Government organisations, enabling risk and policy teams to work together to effectively manage fraud and corruption risks when designing and implementing new government initiatives.

To request a copy of the Countering Fraud and Corruption by Design Toolkit, please contact us at info@counterfraud.gov.au.

Building a Counter Fraud Strategy – Practice Note

This guide developed by the Government Counter Fraud Profession (GCFP) Centre of Learning, a function of the UK PSFA, provides practical advice for anyone looking to develop a Counter Fraud Strategy.

Access the Building a Counter Fraud Strategy – Practice Note.

Enterprise Fraud Risk Assessment – Practice Note

This guide has been developed by the GCFP Centre of Learning in the UK PSFA to help counter fraud officials understand what an Enterprise Fraud Risk Assessment (EFRA) is, how to define fraud risks, threats and drivers and how to build an EFRA.

Access the Enterprise Fraud Risk Assessment  – Practice Note.

Case study spotlight

An Australian Border Force (ABF) employee and an alleged crime figure have been charged with bribery and drug offences. Fifty-year-old ABF employee Rita Gargiulo and 67-year-old Mount Pritchard man Cosmo Commisso allegedly conspired to smuggle 6.9 kilograms of cocaine into Australia.

Access the ABF employee case study.

Fraud in the media