Disability provider accused of billing $1 million in fraudulent NDIS claims in a month - 9News

A shonky disability provider has been caught allegedly billing taxpayers for $1 million in fraudulent NDIS claims in a single month.

The person, believed to be linked to a broader criminal network, is accused of using coercive tactics to facilitate the claims through legitimate National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants.

In recent weeks, NDIS investigators discovered the provider had allegedly used 50 separate ABNs to charge for fake services.

Bill Shorten said the joint NDIS-NDIA fraud taskforce would likely result in dozens of providers being forever banned from the scheme. (9News)

9News can reveal the provider tallied their claims in a notebook, scrawling the details in biro.

An extract of the notebook shows $940,632 was racked up in just 30 days, including $496,000 in one transaction.

Disability Services Minister Bill Shorten said the joint NDIS-NDIA fraud taskforce would likely result in dozens of providers being forever banned from the scheme.

"This scheme is not about creating NDIS millionaires or giving crooks a fast buck," Shorten told 9News.

An extract of the notebook shows $940,632 was racked up in just 30 days, including $496,000 in one transaction. (9News)

Recent examples of NDIS fraud include:

- A Northern Territory woman, an unregistered provider, was banned permanently from the scheme after being convicted of gross indecency and common assault;

- A South Australian man, also an unregistered provider, was banned from the NDIS in November for two years after impersonating a mental health worker. He also had a criminal history of dishonesty, sexual assault, trespassing and unlicenced firearm charges;

- A NSW woman working for an unregistered provider was banned for five years in August for sexual misconduct.

Since starting in November 2022, the so-called Fraud Fusion Taskforce has investigated more than 100 cases of suspected fraud involving more than $1 billion of NDIS funding.

As of January 31, there were 184 active investigations, up from 28 in September 2021, with 20 NDIS providers facing court for alleged fraud of a total of $18.5 million.

Shorten's vow to eliminate the shonks from the NDIS led him to appoint Michael Phelan, a former AFP deputy commissioner and ex-boss of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, as the interim NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner.

Bill Shorten's vow to eliminate the shonks from the NDIS led him to appoint Michael Phelan, a former AFP Deputy Commissioner and ex-boss of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, as the interim NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner. (9News)

Phelan, whose three-month stint starts on Tuesday, has effectively declared war on the fraudsters and criminal syndicates targeting the NDIS, given chronic fraud threatens to topple the scheme that many vulnerable Australians depend on.

"Every single dollar we can save through money that's not being defrauded, or rorted, or over-serviced, gets back to the participants who need the money most," Phelan said.

He has previously estimated fraud could be as much as 20 per cent of the $42 billion scheme, which would amount to more than $8 billion a year.

"The levels [of fraud] that we saw were astronomical," Phelan said.

"The thing about criminals and organised criminals is that they always try and stay a step ahead. So the idea for us is to try and target-harden the system."

His appointment and the fraud crackdown is part of Shorten's plan to drag the scheme onto a sustainable path, with a view to curbing expenditure growth from 14.4 per cent a year to 8 per cent.

The NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission has already taken 128 fraud related compliance actions against providers and individuals, including the issuing of 61 banning orders, 20 suspensions of registration and 21 revocations of registration.

Separately, Services Australia has 90 active investigations under the Fraud Fusion Taskforce with an estimated total value of $15.2 million.

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2024-03-09 07:00:00Z
CBMivAFodHRwczovL3d3dy45bmV3cy5jb20uYXUvbmF0aW9uYWwvZGlzYWJpbGl0eS1wcm92aWRlci1hY2N1c2VkLW9mLWJpbGxpbmctMS1taWxsaW9uLWluLWZyYXVkdWxlbnQtbmF0aW9uYWwtZGlzYWJpbGl0eS1pbnN1cmFuY2Utc2NoZW1lLWNsYWltcy1pbi1hLW1vbnRoLzYwZTZmNGE4LTBlODYtNGVjZi05YTY4LTM2YTllOGZlMmE1NtIBRWh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLjluZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzYwZTZmNGE4LTBlODYtNGVjZi05YTY4LTM2YTllOGZlMmE1Ng

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