Five arrested in probe of $235m rorted from federal agencies including NDIA

Federal investigators have charged five people as part of a probe into $235 million allegedly defrauded from welfare agencies following a series of raids across Australia.

Police allege the stole government funds from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), Services Australia, Department of Veterans' Affairs and Department of Education by claiming rebates and benefits for services they either did not provide or only partially delivered.

Police raided 26 locations in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Central Coast in NSW and rural Queensland over the last three months seizing digital devices, documents, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, silver bullion and jewellery.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said operation involved more than 100 police officers and more than 150 Commonwealth department personnel, with help from the NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria police forces.

AFP Detective Acting Superintendent Stephen Raper said defrauding government agencies amounted to stealing from the taxpayer.

"While the majority do the right thing, there are groups in our country who selfishly rort the system for their own personal gain," he said.

An NDIA spokesperson said the agency had strengthened its systems to detect suspicious claims earlier. 

"NDIS funding is for participant supports, not the pockets of those seeking to exploit the scheme," the spokesperson said.

One of the people charged is an female NDIA employee who allegedly provided 78 NDIS participant records without authorisation to NDIS providers she knew, who in turn profited from NDIS funded-revenue, the AFP said.

She will face Adelaide Magistrates' Court in December accused of abusing public office.

A second alleged offender is a man in rural Victoria who police said took $700,000 from the NDIS over two years by creating two businesses to defraud his own NDIS plan. 

The AFP allege he submitted false invoices for services claimed to have been received, then distributed funds into personal bank accounts.

He will face court in December. 

Centrelink scam saw $2.5 million allegedly rorted

Three others charged with fraud were Sydney-based Chinese nationals who allegedly collected Services Australia user details via a phishing scam and then redirected their support payments.

The victims were directed to a fake myGov website where they gave their Centrelink records, the AFP said.

Since March 2025 the group allegedly made more than 3,000 fraudulent transactions, stealing $2.5 million from the federal government.

The trio, all aged in their 20s, have been charged with a count each of dealing in proceeds of crime.

The AFP said its investigations include a further four NDIS providers and one NDIS plan manager who allegedly claimed $100 million in funding since 2019. 

Officers said they detected money laundering methods such as ATM cash withdrawals of about $5.4 million, gift card purchases over $1 million and purchases of gold bullion. 

The AFP says no one has been arrested but investigations into the alleged fraud ring are ongoing.

Another alleged NDIS fraud syndicate is suspected of claiming financial benefits of $6.7 million from bogus claims totalling about $83 million. 

No arrests have been made but the AFP says officers have searched two properties in Liverpool and Wakeley in Sydney and there's six people of interest.