A 39-year-old woman from High Wycombe, Western Australia, has been sentenced to three years in prison for orchestrating a fraudulent scheme to illegally access over $202,000 in early superannuation benefits.
The sentence, handed down by the Perth District Court on 19 September 2024, includes a non-parole period of 18 months. The woman pleaded guilty to 30 charges in November 2023.
The scheme exploited provisions of the Federal Government’s early superannuation release program, which allows individuals to withdraw funds under specific conditions, such as financial hardship or compassionate grounds. The criteria for early access were expanded in 2020 to include hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
An investigation by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) commenced in 2020 after the Australian Taxation Office-led Serious Financial Crime Taskforce (SFCT) identified a series of suspicious claims from Western Australia.
Authorities discovered that the woman had submitted 30 fraudulent applications between April 2019 and April 2020, covering both her own claims and those of 24 others. Each claim sought to release $10,000 from superannuation accounts, the maximum allowed at the time under financial hardship provisions.
The woman devised the scheme by filing false severe financial hardship claims, even transferring funds between her own accounts to make multiple applications. She received fees totalling almost $11,000 for creating and submitting the fraudulent claims on behalf of others. Additionally, she illegally used the identities of professionals such as teachers, nurses, doctors, and pharmacists to falsely certify documents and statutory declarations.
When AFP officers searched the woman’s home in May 2020, they uncovered evidence, including business identification and certification stamps used to support the fraudulent applications.
The woman pleaded guilty to 27 counts of fraud and three counts of attempted fraud, as per the Criminal Code Act Compilation Act 1913 (WA).
AFP Detective Superintendent Peter Chwal emphasised the importance of protecting government financial support programs from exploitation. “It is important to protect the integrity of financial support programs to ensure funds are only dispersed when people genuinely need them or can legitimately access them,” he said.
John Ford, Chief of the Serious Financial Crime Taskforce and ATO Deputy Commissioner, highlighted the collaborative efforts of Commonwealth and state law enforcement agencies in tackling financial crime. “This outcome sends a clear message to the community that we do bring those who exploit the tax and super system to account,” Mr Ford said.
The investigation and subsequent conviction were the result of a joint effort between the AFP and the ATO-led Serious Financial Crime Taskforce.
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