Three more Western Sydney properties raided in NDIS crackdown

Three Western Sydney properties have been raided as part of a major probe into a suspected criminal network that has claimed more than $16m in NDIS payments over the past five years.

Three Western Sydney properties have been raided as part of a major probe into a suspected criminal network that has claimed more than $16m in NDIS payments over the past five years.

Fraud Fusion Task Force officers hit Campbelltown, St Andrews and Minto on Thursday in an operation centred on a 67-year-old doctor and an associate, 41, and their control of three southwestern Sydney service providers alleged to be engaged in significant fraud against the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Investigators would not confirm whether the targets were linked to Western Sydney raids this month over an alleged $11.3m NDIS fraud.

However, they said “stay tuned, more raids are coming”.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten exclusively told The Saturday Telegraph: “People who are stealing from disabled people and cheating the NDIS should be laying awake in bed at night worrying about a knock on the door from the NDIS Fraud Fusion Taskforce, because we are coming for them.”

Australian Federal Police conduct raids on Western Sydney National Disability Insurance Scheme service providers. Picture: John Appleyard

Mr Shorten confirmed the raids were the continuation of the crackdown on sophisticated organised crime syndicates operating across Sydney, and he would make “no apologies” for going after criminals who stole $6bn every year from people with disabilities.

The Saturday Telegraph can reveal the suspects at the centre of this week’s raids are being investigated for allegedly skimming NDIS funding from genuine participants without their knowledge by giving false invoices for service not provided.

Investigators are also looking into NDIS funding being claimed for people who do not have a genuine disability or have an inflated disability, and for claims the suspects are conspiring with NDIS participants or their families and other “subcontracted” NDIS service providers to obtain funds they are not entitled to.

National Disability Insurance Agency fraud investigators, helped by the AFP and Services Australia, executed a search warrant at a Minto address and seized a large amount of business documents and electronic devices.\

They spent nine hours on site “triaging electronic devices”.

At a home in St Andrews, they seized bank and business documentation, two phones and a laptop, and at a Campbelltown business address they took business documentation, a USB and two laptops.

A disability service provider at one of the raided properties. Picture: Christian Anstey

A woman connected to businesses raided earlier this month. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Mr Shorten said that early investigations indicated the providers at the centre of the activity “have claimed more than $16m in NDIS funding over several years”.

“Taskforce members continue to gather evidence to establish any alleged total fraud value,” he said.

“My understanding is the persons involved with this provider are known outside the NDIS, which is why the sharing of information between agencies is critical in helping identify potential criminals and their patterns of behaviour.”

Mr Shorten said he was keen to see the outcome of the probe, which started in December last year, as the team continued its painstaking work to see that funding intended for NDIS participants actually got to them, rather than lining the pockets of crooks.

The Saturday Telegraph exclusively revealed this month a Western Sydney woman is at the centre of a multimillion-dollar NDIS fraud sting investigation, after raids at Casula, Potts Hill and Liverpool.

Investigators seized boxes of paperwork, mobile phones, computers, banking documents and other evidence allegedly showing fraud against the NDIS totalling $11.3m over the past five years.

Investigations into both operations are continuing.

‘WE’RE COMING FOR YOU’: SHORTEN

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten says the raids across Sydney this month are just the tip of the iceberg in the fight to stop fraudsters misusing massive chunks of the $50 billion spent on the scheme each year.

NDIS Minister Bill Shorten. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

“Australian taxpayers invest generous amounts in the NDIS every year and every single dollar of that precious investment is meant to support NDIS participants but unscrupulous organised criminal gangs have been stealing an estimated $6 billion a year from the NDIS,” Mr Shorten told The Saturday Telegraph.

“It’s part of a sophisticated fraud that was allowed to flourish because of neglect and mismanagement during the nine years the previous Liberal government was in power.”

Upon becoming Minister for the NDIS in the Albanese Labor government, Mr Shorten has allocated a “$137 million war chest” to defend the scheme against organised crime, and take the fight up to criminals, including through the creation of a powerful Fraud Fusion Taskforce.

“The NDIS supports 500,000 Australians with profound disabilities to reach their true potential and to fully participate in social and economic life,” Mr Shorten said.

“The NDIS is the only scheme of its kind in the world. It is a proud Australian achievement and a core element of a social safety net that embodies Australia’s commitment to fairness and looking out for mates who are doing it tough.”

The Fraud Fusion Taskforce was established in November 2022 to stop waste in the NDIS, to strengthen fraud detection and better safeguard the NDIS from serious organised crime and other fraudsters.