Five people have been charged for alleged fraudulent government claims, including a raft of NDIS payments, worth $235million.
Australian Federal Police on Wednesday confirmed it had charged five people and didn't rule out further arrests as it continued to investigate the alleged frauds.
Investigators have so far seized 44 digital devices and 37 cloud-based accounts from 26 search warrants across Adelaide, the Central Coast, Melbourne, rural Queensland and Sydney.
Officers also seized more than $120,000 in cash, $15,000 in silver bullion, $11,000 in gold coins, and approximately $60,000 worth of jewellery.
Operation Integrity Fusion spent three months investigating the seven individual operations across three months, leading to the five arrests.
The first saw a man arrested in August for allegedly creating two businesses to scam the NDIA, allegedly defrauded the taxpayer-funded disability service by $700,000.
He will face Horsham Magistrates' Court, in regional Victoria, on December 3.
The second operation in early September has not yet resulted in any arrests.
Five people have been arrested across several operations targeting alleged welfare fraud
Police have seized more than $120,000 in cash, $15,000 in silver bullion, $11,000 in gold coins, and approximately $60,000 worth of jewellery
It investigated an NDIS network where four providers and one plan manager claimed $100million from the NDIS since 2019.
The NDIA (National Disability Insurance Agency) is the agency that oversees payments from the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme).
Two residences and two businesses have been searched in western Sydney and officers seized 24 digital devices and cloud accounts.
It's alleged the group used money laundering methods, including ATM cash withdrawals of about $5.4 million, gift card purchases of about $1.1 million and purchases of gold bullion.
The investigation is ongoing.
No arrests have been made in the third operation either, which investigated a Sydney-based Family Day Care service suspected of claiming Child Care Subsidy payment without providing service.
The business claimed about $4million in CCS payments since January 2024.
Officers executed search warrants and the investigation is ongoing.
It's alleged the seized cash, jewellery and bullion was used in money laundering
The fourth operation saw three Chinese nationals arrested in early October after allegedly securing Centrelink details through a fake 'myGov' website.
Those credentials were then allegedly used to redirect Centrelink payments to the accused's bank accounts.
Investigations uncovered more than 3,000 transactions worth $2.5million.
The last three operations occurred in October with one targeting the Department of Veterans Affairs and the remaining two the NDIA.
One man, aged 34, is suspected of scamming the Department of Veterans Affairs of more than $29 million by billing for services his veteran support business didn't complete.
However, no charges have been laid.
The second-last operation saw a former NDIA worker, a 42-year-old woman from Adelaide, arrested for allegedly providing 78 participants' record to NDIS providers.
Police alleged the woman had a conflict of interest with the providers she allegedly gave the records to, who then claimed $21.8million against participants' plans.
The five arrests were made across seven operations
Officers executed 26 search warrants across Adelaide, the Central Coast, Melbourne, rural Queensland and Sydney
The alleged scheme generated more than $1.6million in revenue for the providers.
The woman is due to face Adelaide Magistrates Court on December 9.
No arrests were made in the last operation, which is still investigating a suspected syndicate involving six people of interest, 10 key NDIS providers and five secondary providers.
The group's claims total $83million and investigators suspect they laundered about $6.7million in cash, gold and jewellery.
Officers seized about $60,000 cash, $60,000 in jewellery, $15,000 in silver bullion and $11,000 in gold coins during two search warrants in southwest Sydney.
More than 28 terabytes of data will be examined under the Fraud Fusion Taskforce alongside physical documents.
More arrests are expected.
AFP Detective Acting Superintendent Stephen Raper described defrauding government agencies as a deliberate effort to take money taxpayers.
Police expect more arrests to follow
'Service providers are there to support Australians who need it and 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.
'We continue to work with our partners in the Fraud Fusion Taskforce to stop targeted fraud which steals the money of honest and hard-working Australians and is a threat to Australia's national security.
'Law enforcement and our partners will not stop in our pursuit of these people.'
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