This is a joint media release between the Australian Federal Police and Services Australia.
A 33-year-old Sydney man has been sentenced to three years imprisonment for multiple fraud offences following allegations he redirected Commonwealth government payments to accounts controlled by him.
With assistance from Services Australia, officers from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) Taskforce Iris arrested the man on Thursday 24 September 2020 at his Mays Hill home in Sydney, NSW.
During the search warrant, investigators from the Taskforce seized a number of electronic items and files containing personal identification details of victims.
The AFP alleged the man improperly accessed Centrelink records to change the payment destination of a customer's payment into a bank account he controlled.
The 33-year-old also attempted to access the Centrelink records of several other customers and contacted Services Australia while impersonating other customers in order to gain access to their accounts and alter payment destinations.
Investigators calculated the fraud value to be more than $18,000.
The 33-year-old man was sentenced before the Parramatta Local Court on 19 March 2021 to three years and one day of imprisonment, with a non-parole period of two years.
The AFP's Taskforce Iris is dedicated to targeting people and organised crime entities who plan to defraud the Governments COVID-19 support measures.
Anyone with information about suspected fraud of Government benefits can make a report via the "Reporting Fraud" page on the Services Australia website at www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/fraud, or by calling the Australian Government Services Fraud Tip-off Line on 13 15 24.
