Blacktown mother who shared Centrelink data to fraud sentenced to 32 months jail

A Blacktown woman has been sentenced to jail for downloading personal information from Centrelink’s database and passing it on to a sophisticated fraud syndicate. The single mother told the court her husband had just been deported and she was desperate to buy food and nappies.

Former Centrelink employee Kristiane Soqosoqo was jailed for fraud. Picture: Campbell Gellie

A Blacktown woman has been sentenced to 32 months jail for downloading personal information from Centrelink’s database and passing it on to a sophisticated fraud syndicate.

Single mother Kristiane Soqosoqo, who pleaded guilty, can return home for the next six weeks while corrections assess whether she can serve her sentence at home.

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The 35-year-old former Centrelink employee told Parramatta Local Court on Thursday she was ashamed and embarrassed about her role in the syndicate that defrauded people thousands of dollars.

She said she only received a one-off payment of $150 for providing the details of no fewer than seven people from the government database to her cousin.

Soqosoqo pleaded guilty to the charges of being a Commonwealth public official receive bribe, participate in a criminal group, deal with identification information to commit and two counts of facilitate commission of an indictable offence.

She told the court she was going through personal and financial hardship at the time of the crime because her husband had been deported, her child wasn’t feeding and she had no money for nappies or car registration.

She was offered help from her cousin if she provided him with personal details of people from the Centrelink database.

“I never received any more than $150,” she said. “The $150 was for me to be able to buy food and until I got my Centrelink.

“(I) didn’t have nappies and food in the house for two days and got into desperate times.”

As Soqosoqo stood, crying, in court to be sentenced, Magistrate Peter Feather said the fraud was a “gross breach of trust”.

“It is a gross breach of trust to access that information that you did,” he said.

“You received some financial benefit, $150, and you provided the information to your cousin.”

He said Soqosoqo had a good chance of rehabilitation and ordered an assessment by corrective services to see if she was fit for home detention.

Originally published as Blacktown mother who shared Centrelink data to fraud sentenced to 32 months jail