Police taskforce bust open alleged $235m commonwealth fraud rings

Investigators have charged five people across the country as part of a $235 million fraud scheme targeting Commonwealth Government agencies, in a series of co-ordinated operations where they seized a silver bullion, cash and jewellery.

The Australian Government’s Fraud Fusion Task force’s Operation Integrity Fusion, executed search warrants across Adelaide, the Central Coast, Melbourne, rural Queensland and Sydney.

The operation comes as part of a three-month investigation, following alleged fraud payments across the Department of Education, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, National Disability Insurance Agency, and Services Australia.

In August, Victoria Police charged a man who allegedly defrauded the NDIS of more than $700,000 over a two-year period.

“It is alleged he established two businesses to defraud his own NDIS plan and submitted false invoices for services claimed to have been received, before distributing funds into personal bank accounts.,” and AFP official said.

Last month, three Sydney-based Chinese nationals were charged after allegedly harvesting user details through a phishing scam and “then used those details to redirect social security payments”.

“It will be alleged the criminal syndicate used an SMS phishing scam which directed victims to a fraudulent ‘myGov’ website that requested user details,” an Australian Federal Police representative said in a statement. “ Once details were obtained, the syndicate accessed Centrelink records and redirected income support payments to bank accounts in their control.”

“Since March 2025, the syndicate compromised about 2,000 Centrelink records and made more than 3,000 fraudulent transactions, resulting in an identified loss to the Commonwealth of about $2.5 million”.

Two women, 23 and 22, and a man, 26, were each charged with one count of dealing in proceeds of crime as part of the operation.

The task force also charged a 42-year-old Adelaide-based NDIA employee, who allegedly provided 78 NDIS participant records without authorisation to NDIS providers she had a conflict of interest with.

“The providers have claimed $21.8 million against NDIS participants plans,” an AFP official said. “It is alleged this generated more than $1.6 million in NDIS-funded revenue for providers operated by people known to her.”

The task force also flagged ongoing cases, which resulted in search warrants being executed at residences in Greystanes and at businesses in Auburn, after four NDIS providers and one plan manager claimed $100 million from the NDIS since 2019.

Investigations identified activity consistent with money laundering methods, including ATM cash withdrawals of about $5.4 million, gift card purchases of about $1.1 million and purchases of gold bullion.

In September, a Sydney-based Family Day Care service was investigated after allegedly claiming Child Care Subsidy (CCS) payments, after claims it received about $4 million in CCS payments since January 2024.

In October, homes were also raided in Concord West, Dulwich Hill and North Parramatta in NSW, and at Biddaddaba Creek, QLD as part of an investigation into claims a 34-year-old man billed the Department of Veterans Affairs for services not, or partially, provided by his veterans support business, totalling $29 million.

No arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing.

Operational activity involved 108 police officers and 156 personnel from the Department of Education, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, and Services Australia. The activity was further supported by members of the NSW Police Force, Queensland Police Service, South Australia Police and Victoria Police.

AFP Detective Acting Superintendent Stephen Raper said fraudsters were allegedly stealing money from the taxpayer.

“Service providers are there to support Australians who need it, and while the majority do the right thing, there are groups in our country who selfishly rort the system for their own personal gain,” Detective Acting Superintendent Raper said.

While Department of Education and Department of Veterans’ Affairs representatives said funding was meant to be there for those who need it.

An NDIA spokesperson said ‘funding is for participant supports, not the pockets of those seeking to exploit the scheme’.

“We have strengthened our systems to help prevent fraud, detect suspicious claims earlier and protect funding participants rely on. This action shows how stronger systems and close cooperation with our Fraud Fusion Taskforce partners are defeating fraud.”