CENTRELINK has urged victims of an identity-theft scam to come forward as the department furiously attempts to track down cheats who are rorting the flood grant system.
The Area News last week revealed a number of local Centrelink clients had been sent letters confirming they were eligible for the $1000 one-off government flood grant and the money had been paid into their bank accounts.
However, the clients had never applied for the grants, nor had they received any money and the accounts listed were not their own.
Griffith Police are on the case as more victims continue to come forward.
Department of Human Services general manager Hank Jongen said the department treated these matters very seriously.
“Safeguarding taxpayer funds is an important part of our role and we have specialised compliance teams devoted to reviewing payments to check they were only made to people genuinely entitled,” Mr Jongen said.
“If there are any other people in the Griffith area who receive a letter about an Australian Government Disaster Relief Payment which they didn’t apply for, I urge them to report it to us immediately.”
Mr Jongen said people could let the department know through the fraud tip-off line on 131 524, online at the humanservices.gov.au website or by visiting the Centrelink Service Centre on Yambil Street.
“We follow up all information received,” he said.