TAC fraudsters: 60 years’ of gardening charged in just three months
These are the dodgy clients and service providers who contributed to last year’s $3.8 billion TAC budget blowout. One bold fraudster taught someone else how to cheat the system, while another claimed 60 years’ of gardening and maintenance work — worth more than $112,000 — in just three months.
VIC News
Don't miss out on the headlines from VIC News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Lying clients and service providers contributed to last year’s $3.8 billion TAC budget blowout, with one fraudster claiming 60 years of gardening and maintenance work — worth $112,000 — in just three months.
Among other frauds prosecuted by the Transport Accident Commission last year, the organisation was billed almost $32,000 for gardening that was never done.
And a woman falsely billed the TAC 48 times in less than two months for house cleaning, gardening, shopping and cooking she said she provided for a TAC client and claimed was worth $11,853.
In another case, a fraudster told someone else how to cheat the system, and in other instances clients doctored pay slips and work histories to get paid more.
Many pretended to be still injured and unable to earn after their accidents, when they had actually fully recovered and returned to work, in one case as a dancer.
More than $900,000 in frauds have been prosecuted over the past two years, with the public insurer clawing back money. But 26 alleged frauds — worth $1,733,742 — are still before the courts. Another 58 TAC clients and providers have been sent warning letters demanding reimbursement where the threshold for court prosecution has not been met.
The deceptions follow a recent relaxing of billing systems and “removal of impediments’’ for both clients and healthcare and other service providers, aimed at making it easier for people to claim taxpayer-funded TAC payments electronically through the MyTAC app and LanternPay.
The highest bill submitted through LanternPay was $43,533 for dental work.
TAC chief Joe Calafiore said “an increase in paramedical expenditure, off the back of changes implemented to reduce the administrative burden on clients”, had contributed to the budget black hole.
“We are working closely with stakeholders to address the rise in costs, strengthen controls and ensure that only services that can demonstrate better client outcomes are supported,” he said in the 2018-19 annual report.
Mr Calafiore told the Sunday Herald Sun an expert forensics team investigated TAC frauds and suspects were “pursued vigorously and successfully”.
Claims totalling $1.6 billion were paid in 2018-2019, with almost 6000 providers registered to use LanternPay. About $1.3 billion of the TAC’s budget black hole was due to claims liabilities and capital repayments.
Last year’s increase in paramedical costs was mostly due to more people making more claims, because it was quicker and easier to do so, than because of fraud, the TAC stressed.
One of the most sensational frauds of recent times involves former firefighter Cameron Fox, who last July pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining $118,885 from the TAC through LanternPay, following a car accident in mid-2018.
Fox submitted 100 fake invoices for services and equipment linked to his landscaping company in the weeks after the crash.
Within 22 days, he had claimed more than $100,000 of goods and services, that he had never received, and then attempted to siphon an additional $55,000.
MORE NEWS
MELBOURNE COUNCILS SPLURGING BILLIONS ON STAFF WAGES