Fraud probes cross line

Benefit fraud investigators have misused their powers and unjustifiably intruded on the privacy of beneficiaries, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner has found.

A review of Ministry of Social Development (MSD) files found text messages between people in a relationship of a sexual, familial or otherwise intimate nature.

Infringements of individual privacy were found during the inquiry, particularly regarding collection from third parties.

In one instance, the MSD obtained from a telecommunications firm an intimate picture shared by an individual with their sexual partner.

MSD investigators produced it during an interview and sought answers about it.

Under section 11 of the Social Security Act, MSD has powers to collect any information about a person on a benefit to assess their entitlements.

MSD first has to seek information from a beneficiary client directly before seeking it from a third party, as per the Privacy Act and MSD’s Code of Conduct, unless doing so would prejudice the maintenance of the law.

But in 2012, MSD told fraud investigation staff they could bypass the requirements due to an amendment to the code.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner recommended MSD cease blanket application of the prejudice of the maintenance of the law exception.

MSD deputy chief executive for service delivery Viv Rickard said the agency accepted the recommendations.

“The small number of cases we investigate using this measure are at the high end of the spectrum where there are serious, often multiple, allegations of fraud over a significant period of time, usually involving large sums of money,” Rickard said.

“We recognise we have to balance clients’ privacy rights alongside our responsibility to taxpayers to investigate serious fraud in a timely way, and to establish the facts.”