FRAUD investigators are cracking down on the country’s welfare cheats — and they’re targeting Australia’s dole bludging hotspot first.
THE Australian government is hitting back against dole bludgers and they’re starting at the top, targeting the area with the most prolific welfare cheats in the country.
Fraudsters living in Melbourne’s southwest will be the first to feel the force of the crackdown after the suburb of Werribee was identified as the country’s dole bludging hotspot.
Over the next few days, investigators from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Federal Department of Human Services (DHS) will be stationed at the Werribee and Sunshine Centrelink offices.
Members of the public will also be able to provide officer’s with tip-offs at Pacific Werribee Shopping Centre.
“Tip-offs are an important source of information for investigators and it is not uncommon for fraudsters to be dobbed in by their own families or neighbours if they are doing the wrong thing,” he said in a statement.
Under the crackdown, people with a history of cheating the welfare system or those with suspicious activity on their case files will be targeted for “snap audits” by investigators.
When the taskforce last visited Werribee in 2015, almost $11 million worth of benefits were clawed back from 2600 individuals, who weren’t entitled to the payments.
Authorities conducted a total of 19 of these operations across Australia and Werribee was found to have the highest number of dole bludgers of them all.
“The dollar figure was the largest from a single site in the taskforce’s three-year history and represents more than one quarter of the $40 million in debts that have been raised from a total of 19 operations conducted right across Australia,” Mr Keenan said.
He assured the community that people who made an honest mistake when receiving their benefits weren’t the ones who should be worried, it was those who were deliberately playing the system.
“This operation is not about penalising people who make genuine errors. Its focus is on enforcing the law and targeting those who deliberately set out to commit welfare fraud,” Mr Keenan said.
The average unemployment rate across Australia is 6.9 per cent but in Werribee it is much higher at 10.1 per cent.
The investigation is part of an ongoing joint operation between the AFP and DHS that first came into existence three years ago.
READ: Welfare cheats ordered to pay up ....
https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/federal-budget/centrelink-cheats-warned-to-pay-back-900-debt-or-cop-interest-charges/news-story/477c1cbad89f9d7e6d96fb00ce38ea6a
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