More than 70 people a day are being caught rorting the welfare system by falsely claiming to be single in order to qualify for higher Centrelink payments.
\nDuring the 2017-18 financial year, 26,346 individuals failed to declare that they were in a relationship, resulting in more than $61 million in overpayments that now have to be repaid to the Commonwealth.
\nWhile some cases involved genuine mistakes or oversights, many were deliberate acts of fraud that were detected by members of the Department of Human Services\u2019 specialist fraud and compliance teams.
\nSince July 1, 2016, operations run by the teams have helped generate more than $2.1 billion in savings for taxpayers.
\nHuman Services and Digital Transformation Minister Michael Keenan said the figures should serve as a warning to anyone thinking of defrauding the system that the risks of getting caught were very high.
\n\u201cStealing from the welfare system is not a victimless crime,\u201d Mr Keenan said. \u201cYou are stealing directly from pockets of Australian taxpayers and robbing the wider community of much needed funds that could be spent on other essential services such as roads, schools and hospitals.
\n\u201cYou also need to know that if we catch you, you will be made to pay the money back and you could also end up with a criminal record, or worse, in jail.\u201d
\nJust last month, a 76-year-old woman was sentenced to almost three years behind bars after a Victorian court convicted her of fraudulently claiming $287,000 in benefits. The woman claimed she was single in order to receive a higher rate of the age pension while in a relationship with a man who was worth millions.
\nPeople failing to declare that they are in a relationship is one of the main ways that welfare recipients end up with debts, along with failing to properly declare their income.
\n\u201cAustralia has a strong welfare system that ensures those who genuinely need our help can get a fair go,\u201d Mr Keenan said.
\n\u201cBut those who fund the system \u2013 taxpayers \u2013 also have a right to a fair go, which is why we will continue to take strong action against those who are doing the wrong thing.\u201d
\nThe best way to avoid getting into debt is to alert Centrelink immediately to any changes to your personal circumstances that could affect your eligibility for payment.
\nFor more information, or to report someone you suspect is committing welfare fraud, go to humanservices.gov.au\/fraud or call the Fraud Tip-Off Line on 131 524.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More than 70 people a day are being caught rorting the welfare system by falsely claiming to be single in order to qualify for higher Centrelink payments. During the 2017-18 financial year, 26,346 individuals failed to declare that they were in a relationship, resulting in more than $61 million in overpayments that now have to … Continue reading “Thousands of Couples Caught Rorting the Welfare System”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}