Cindy Lee Talbot: North Nowra woman used fake names to scam $250k in government grant money
A woman’s ill-fated scheme to use fake names to swindle $250,000 in government grants through fraudulent applications backfired as a result of a single flaw – it was all linked to her personal bank account.
The South Coast News
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A woman’s ill-fated scheme to use an array of fake names and addresses to swindle $250,000 from the NSW Government through fraudulent grant applications backfired as a result of a single flaw – they were all linked to her personal bank account.
Cindy Lee Talbot, 45, faced Nowra Local Court on Tuesday, and pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including publish false and misleading material to obtain financial advantage, dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception and deal with identity to commit indictable offence.
Police documents tendered to the court reveal between March 10, 2020 and April 21, 2021, Talbot submitted 24 applications to Service NSW, for various Covid-19 and Black Summer Fire grants, ranging from $6000 to $50,000.
Agreed facts state Talbot applied for a total of $255,030 of grant money.
In each application, Talbot used a different name, as the regulations for the grant money meant individuals could only apply once. However, in each application, Talbot used her personal bank account details linked to her real name.
Some of the fake names used by Talbot included Jacqueline McLean, Even Kershaw and Larry McLeod, to name a few.
While 18 of her applications were declined, six were granted, seeing Talbot pocket $53,000.
Court documents also reveal Talbot applied for eight grants in early 2021, however, while she used her real name, she provided a different address, ranging from locations in Bomaderry to Sussex Inlet. Each of these applications were declined.
On November 26, 2022, police attended Talbot’s North Nowra home, following investigations into the suspicious applications.
However, Talbot informed police they were not fake names in the applications, rather, she was applying for friends who struggled with computers and was giving them the grant money.
She was taken to the Nowra Police Station for further questioning and, on January 3, she was arrested and charged her for defrauding Service NSW.
In Nowra Local Court on Tuesday, Talbot’s lawyer, Hannah Dreher, asked for the matter be adjourned to June for sentencing.
Magistrate Lisa Viney did not oppose the suggestion and ordered a sentencing assessment report to be completed.
“These are serious deception charges, so we are going to have to deal with this promptly, given how long ago the offending was,” Ms Viney said.
Talbot’s matter was adjourned to June 27.
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