Mum in $31k benefit scam
Woman jailed for ‘calculating’ fraud
A WOMAN, jailed over Centrelink and flood fraud, has been described by a magistrate as “calculating”.
The Charters Towers Magistrates Court heard Missy Catherine Moore, 39, defrauded Centrelink over a period of 22 months, and also fraudulently obtained federal government disaster relief recovery payment following the 2019 monsoon and flood event.
Commonwealth prosecutor Chris Moore said the defendant was receiving Newstart benefits between March 27, 2018, and January 14, 2020, while she was working as a medical receptionist.
He said on 29 occasions Moore under-declared income and on 10 occasions claimed no income, receiving $30,013 in social security benefits when she was only entitled to $7390.
The offending only came to light after investigations into disaster relief recovery money paid into a Bendigo Bank account belonging to Moore. He said Moore claimed a payment in her own name falsely and then made claims in the names of 12 other people and “in most cases the payments were made into bank accounts linked to this defendant”.
He said the claimants could be regarded in some ways as victims of Moore, with some knowing her because they were relatives and others because of her role as a receptionist at the Townsville Aboriginal and Islander Health Service Medical Centre in Charters Towers. It is not suggested those who knew Moore were aware of her fraudulent activities.
Mr Moore said government customer reference numbers, full names, dates of birth and addresses were required to make the applications and it was thought Moore had ob
tained them while working at the medical centre.
Only $1004 has been paid back to the government.
Defence solicitor Mikaela Ward said Moore, a mother of six, was struggling financially. “She was relieved when she received the money ... so that she could pay her bills,” she said.
Ms Ward tendered several references describing Moore as kind, dependable, responsible and a positive contributor to the Indigenous community.
Magistrate Viviana Keegan said the glowing references did not sit “hand-in-hand” with her offending.
“On 12 different times or different occasions you either successfully obtained or attempted to obtain those disaster payments,” Ms Keegan said.
“What is of concern to me is that you had to provide customer reference numbers …
there’s no evidence as to how you obtained that, however, it’s personal information that’s not readily available. To my mind it reflects the calculated nature of what you were doing.”
For the social security fraud of $22,622, Moore, who pleaded guilty to all charges, was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.
For each of the six counts of attempting to commit an offence and six of obtaining financial advantage by deception, Moore was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment, with the sentence to begin on February 16, 2021. Ms Keegan ordered Moore be released on that date on a reconnaissance for a period of two years for the sum of $1000.
Moore was also ordered to repay $22,622.68 to Centrelink and $7395.30 in disaster recovery funds.