Centrlink fraud- to dob or not to dob

[~clover~]

I have to say you need to look at some very personal circumstances first.
I know someone who did it even though she was with her childrens father because he was abusive & took his pay & spent it before she could buy food & pay rent etc. If she didn't claim it her children would've starved & she would've been homeless. As it was she had no car & no food as he took alot of her money too.
These are things that may or may not be happening.
I also know someone who did it, but all their extra $ went to the pokies, not the kids, so her SIL rang them.
Its a tough call to make...

[Lulu]

Look Courts - I know you have problems, I know things are hard for you but FFS. Why post about something, asking opinions and then start getting shirty when you get a response you didn't expect??
Why ask at all?

You have been given lots and lots of different perspectives. Who says you have to take direction from anyone? No one is telling you what to do.

I was coming in to give you some 'inside' information about how to go about it and effectively dob someone in if you felt thats what you wanted to do - but instead I shall quote back to you - BLAH BLAH BLAH...................

[cocobambino]

Look Courts - I know you have problems, I know things are hard for you but FFS. Why post about something, asking opinions and then start getting shirty when you get a response you didn't expect??
Why ask at all?

You have been given lots and lots of different perspectives. Who says you have to take direction from anyone? No one is telling you what to do.

I was coming in to give you some 'inside' information about how to go about it and effectively dob someone in if you felt thats what you wanted to do - but instead I shall quote back to you - BLAH BLAH BLAH...................

LULU its nothing to do with what anyone wrote, its an outside BB issue

[AwesomeFoursome]

And yes, we checked the way it worked out 3 times and questioned them twice about it. Apparently it was right. Just made no sense. More recently they told me I had to pay his child support out of my kids FTB because his business didnt make enough to pay him (he was unable to work fully waiting for carpel tunnel release surgery and centrelink didn't want to help out).

Can they make you pay out of your FTB?? I know my payments have never been included in dh's child support payments in anyway, it goes off his earnings only.

[Lulu]

Well re edit your posts so it doesn't look that way ok?

[Inertia]

Can they make you pay out of your FTB?? I know my payments have never been included in dh's child support payments in anyway, it goes off his earnings only.

This was - and still is - an unbelievable mess. She could get her info backdated for 3 months but he couldnt - so he was told he had to pay $120 per week for the prior three months when she decided to take it through CSA again - despite the fact that he was no longer working and had 2 more children than the last time we were working through the CSA. And that was backdated 3 months from when she applied - and at her request they did not tell us that there was a re-application through CSA so it turned out to be 5 months at a rate that was simply out of our means before they even told him about it. Long story how this happened too - but it was all above board and he was happy to meet his obligations to his eldest - we had no way of contacting her at all for 3 years and then out of the blue we get sent a massive bill and cant do anything about it.

Anyway, because DH wasnt earning an income at the time we called them and tried to organise that I pay a little something when we get work in because we cant commit to anything. The lovely gentleman on the other end said that they will need to see all our income, including all centrelink income. I said that DH gets nothing from centrelink - he said my income. So I say thats my PPP and my kids FTB. None of us are financially responsible for Miss S. His reply was something along the lines of - that doesn't matter - its income coming into his house and if you don't pay it he can be jailed.

This is why I went back to tafe. I went onto austudy and he went onto PPP so that he can have an income. They pay $40 a fortnight out of it to this bill - much less than this gentleman wanted out of my kids food money! He has been cleared to use his hands normally now so he can start building up a client base again - and hopefully that means when my course finishes, I can go back to just being a mum again rather than stressed student/business partner/wfhm.

But this is what I mean about how flawed the system is. My kids didnt count in the calculation of how much he had to pay - but when it came to paying, the money I am given to support them sure as hell counted!

[maz]

foR FARKS SAKE CAPTAIN!!!!!!

we all look like we've started a conversation on a smelly fart??!!!

[Jahzara]

foR FARKS SAKE CAPTAIN!!!!!!

we all look like we've started a conversation on a smelly fart??!!!

[briggsy's girl]

i have no idea what the OP was referring to, and don't really care - but seeing this discussion has been started and there are lots of comments about NOT tipping off when you think something is suss cos you're worried about how the reduction of income will impact them i ask you to keep something in mind

it is BETTER for them to have a reduction in benefits now and no resultant debt by doing the right thing, than to be caught out 18 months down the track, have the reduction in payment AND end up with a whopping great debt that they have to pay back, reducing their payments even further!

as an employee, i have, and will continue to, tip off when something is not right. it's part of my job, but it's also the right thing to to by the person i'm tipping off. they may not think it at the time, but ultimately NOT having debt, NOT being prosecuted for fraudulant behaviour - that's a whole lot better for them...

FWIW - ANY marriage like relationship means that you're no longer a "single parent" - it is NOTHING to do with paternity of the child/ren in your care - it's about your CURRENT situation. a marriage like relationship isn't simply defined by who is responsible for the children - there are a hell of a lot more criteria


if the circumstances are like those outlined by bjrose the couple is still in a marriage like relationship until either they no longer live in the same residence OR they can prove they are no longer living in a marriage like relationship. it does NOT just involve sexual relationship, there are many other factors - and the data matching systems in place, although slow, WILL catch up with people

i have personallly spoken to a "customer" recently released from prison for fraudulant activity on her centrelink record - she'd done her "time" but remained with a debt of over 100k - do you really want to let this happen to anyone?

[maz]

i have personallly spoken to a "customer" recently released from prison for fraudulant activity on her centrelink record - she'd done her "time" but remained with a debt of over 100k - do you really want to let this happen to anyone?

WTF!!! thats like a mortage!!!! Id cry my eyes out if that was me

[Ca Plane Pour Moi]

I'd tell the authorities if I knew something was going on (not on gossip).

Why?

I don't work when I have a baby and pay taxes (OK so I currently don't but DH pays loads of tax) and struggle so you can defraud the system and have an easy life. I struggle and do the right thing. You have it easy and cheat. Taxes are too high without people pushing them up even further. We may have had our child tax credit calculated incorrectly after giving the correct information: if this is the case, we have to pay it back (and we rely on this money). But cheat and don't give the right information - we could have done this last year and be getting 5 times as much - then that's NOT RIGHT. Sure you may have to struggle but that doesn't mean it's OK to cheat.

And if you're going to cheat hundreds of thousands out the system then I'm pleased you have to pay it back.

[satya]

I don't know what the story is but if they are doing the wrong thing dob them in. If it causes them financial hardship so be it... they'll just be like all the other low paid honest aussie's out there that don't defraud the system. She can always go out and get a job. That's my opinion & I'm a working single mum who does it by the book & will continue to do so if I'm ever lucky enough to find someone worthy of living with.

[~Raven~]

it is BETTER for them to have a reduction in benefits now and no resultant debt by doing the right thing, than to be caught out 18 months down the track, have the reduction in payment AND end up with a whopping great debt that they have to pay back, reducing their payments even further!

I hadn't thought about it like that!

[paradise lost]

I would not dob anyone in.

I have lived on benefits (i defrauded no-one) and i know how desperate it can be. Even though i was desperate i didn't cheat, so by projection i assume anyone who does is MORE desperate than i was, which i cannot imagine. I would never add to stress of the life of someone by dobbing them in if they were already desperate enough to defraud.

I agree it would be better for them not to cheat, i agree that being in debt or in prison would be terrible, i would tell them so, but i don't like to think of the karma i would incur from doing that to someone. They may well get caught, but it will not be because of me. It isn't my job to keep someone out of jail, and it certainly doesn't thrill me to think i helped put them in there for something like this!

As someone who has been both on benefits and living in a comparatively wealthy blended family (DH earns enough that we pay in the 40% tax band) the difference between having to pay taxes and living on benefits is laughable. I do not smoke, or drink alcohol, or have expensive habits. My clothes are from primark or charity shops, i have bought 1 new pair of shoes since 2006. I would leave my kitchen window open rather than empty the bin because i couldn't afford more bin bags, i cleaned with salt because i couldn't afford household cleaners, i was practically vegetarian because i couldn't afford to buy non-mechanically-recovered meat products more than a few times a month. I remember acutely how real poverty feels and it's not our current steep tax bill, it's nothing but 3 fruit and veg vouchers in your purse, 3 new bills on your doormat, and 5 more days until your benefit comes in. I could cry thinking about how hard my life was back then, i was living on less a onth tan DH PAYS per month in tax. I could not consider making someone's life worse for no reason. I wouldn't cheat, but i wouldn't tell either.

Bx

[cocobambino]

Well re edit your posts so it doesn't look that way ok?

ok i done that, sorry you thought i was crackin the sh&ts at BB members its not that AT ALL

[Inertia]

it is BETTER for them to have a reduction in benefits now and no resultant debt by doing the right thing, than to be caught out 18 months down the track, have the reduction in payment AND end up with a whopping great debt that they have to pay back, reducing their payments even further!

i have personallly spoken to a "customer" recently released from prison for fraudulant activity on her centrelink record - she'd done her "time" but remained with a debt of over 100k - do you really want to let this happen to anyone?

I never expected what I was saying to be popular - nor did I claim it was morally or ethically right. I always did it the right way and to be blunt, if someone wants to play with fire that way - its not up to me to be their nanny.

But chances are - if you have to dob someone in, then you probably are giving them a whopping great debt. It is practically ensuring they end up facing court and the worst possible outcome based on how long they have been doing it.

So you aren't saving them from themselves at all. Its not about the person lying - it never has been and it never will be.

[Tinks]

I don't know the story here but IMO it is AGAISNT THE LAW to claim payments you are not entitled to from Centrelink. If they are they deserve to be dobbed in.

[Persephone1]

I work with a Social Security Lawyer who tells me of some whopping stories about people who have defrauded Centrelink and have debts of many thousands - some of $200k. They are then charged and have to deal with the court system. For many of these people, they have no other criminal record, but the defrauding Centrelink charge is like a black smear across their lives - they face gaol terms and are in major trouble.

Meanwhile, if they were dobbed in much earlier when the debts were much smaller, Centrelink can dock their pay without placing criminal charges - so yes, dobbing them in can be good for them.

Don't know if I would do it though...