Australians who intend to request flood catastrophe payouts for which they are not eligible have been sent a stern warning by the authorities: We have seen the likes of you before, and we will catch you.
Following torrential downpours, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this past week announced a number of additional emergency support payments for residents of the 23 NSW council areas that were most severely affected.
Residents who are impacted are eligible for $1,000 in adult disaster benefits and $400 in child disaster payments.
But deception often goes hand in hand with free money offers. Aussies are joking online about making up schemes to falsely claim the cash.
As “evidence” that they should be paid, comedians produced funny films of themselves hosing off their rugs and tossing electronic equipment into their swimming pools.
It is not implied that any of the many Australians making jokes about fraud have actually committed fraud.
However, recent flood disasters have taken advantage of payment plans supported by taxpayers for natural disasters.
The reimbursements looked to be being claimed by thousands of Australians who were unaffected by the recent weather, according to a March article in Daily Mail Australia.
The NSW government announced on Friday that it had already discovered 3,000 instances of fraud in connection with the February to March round of state flood funds.
The interim CEO of Service NSW, Laura Christie, referred to fraudsters’ activities as “extremely upsetting.”
Those who are discovered must reimburse the money they received and risk legal action and criminal accusations. The maximum sentence for fraud in NSW is ten years in jail.
Fraud teams might audit perpetrators two years after a claim, look into their cases, and then submit them to police, according to Ms. Christie.
A spokeswoman for the federal government urged citizens to report fraud to a hot line (131 524).
Hank Jongen, general manager of Services Australia, told Daily Mail Australia that “the vast majority” of those requesting catastrophe recovery funds “are honest and in desperate need of assistance.”
While natural disasters tend to bring forth the best in our communities, he added that we occasionally come across fraudsters.
Services Australia cited the case of a Queenslander who was given a sentence of two years and eight months in prison for fraudulently claiming disaster aid for the far north Queensland floods in 2019 and the NSW floods in 2021.
@lea mooni
Donate to the people; it is their money, not yours. #fyp #foryoupage #viral
#🇼🇸🇹🇴🇨🇰🇫🇯🇳🇺🇹🇰🇵🇬🇳🇿
#comedy #justforfun #tongantiktok #xyzbca #polynesiantiktok #teamhub
Despite the fact that their apartment in Sydney’s inner west was unharmed, a 32-year-old woman who wished to remain unnamed informed Daily Mail Australia that she and her husband had each successfully claimed a federal $1,000 payment in 2022 for mold.
She said that they had been telling friends that “nobody asks questions” and that it takes around 20 minutes.
“It’s simple money,”
Jon Bernard Kairouz, a comedian on TikTok, is one of several users to post videos making fun of the government’s $1,000 flood payment by tossing an esky into the pool to simulate waves.
In other videos, a Sydney resident is heard stating, “You want proof, I’ll send you proof,” as he stamps water into his carpet.
Much, much, much money! a woman washes her backyard “so I may apply for the NSW flood money,” she added.
The content raises questions since it seems to indicate that this new kind of benefit fraud is widespread, even though there is no evidence that online jokesters have made false claims.
The jokes on TikTok received a mixed reception on social media, while most people understood the humor.
However, some were worried about what they perceived as the normalization of deception.
“Hate to be that person, but the reasons for inflation and how expensive everything is are people claiming relief payments when they don’t need them.”
Yes, nay, that won’t stop the thousands of individuals who are going to claim it, one man retorted.
Many commenters seemed to imply that they were making the claims or knew people who were.
One man added, “Oh no, don’t tell Centrelink what we’re doing,” and another said, “A humorous video represents everyone in Penrith right now.”
One NSW mother, who faces a potentially high repair bill, told Daily Mail Australia that anyone who files a bogus claim is “a f***wit.”
The woman, whose Chittaway Bay home was flooded at the beginning of July and who did not want to be identified because she was “too traumatized,” was incensed about individuals making false claims.
We felt it was an amusing TikTok, but there needs to be more regulation of the payments, too.
“If they weren’t giving money to folks in the same neighbourhood who might have a somewhat moist yard,” the author said, “those who are actually affected could get more.”
We’re looking at thousands of dollars in repair and rebuild expenses, and all they want is a new iPhone.
She claimed that it was too simple for individuals to satisfy the criteria to present evidence of flood damage.
“People who have serious issues may get $5,000 each instead of $1,000 and f***wits get what they deserve – f*** all,” if it were more challenging.
The mother claimed to have even run into a buddy who indicated they intended to file a claim but had no damage.
I advised them to claim the money and give it to a neighbour who really needed it.
“At least 3000 incidents of suspected fraud linked to the February–March 2022 flood awards have been found to date,” said Service NSW Acting CEO Laura Christie.