Australian authorities have charged five people as part of investigations into an alleged $235 million in actual or potential fraud against Commonwealth agencies, including the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said the arrests followed raids at 26 locations across Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, the NSW Central Coast and rural Queensland over the past three months, according to ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Police allege the five took money from the NDIA, Services Australia, the Department of Veterans' Affairs and the Department of Education by claiming rebates and benefits for services that were never provided or only partly delivered. Investigators seized digital devices, documents, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, silver bullion and jewellery during the operation, which drew on more than 100 police officers, over 150 Commonwealth department staff and support from the NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria police forces.
Why it matters
The AFP frames the alleged conduct as theft from the public purse. Detective Acting Superintendent Stephen Raper said most people comply with the rules, but some groups take advantage of government programs for personal benefit. The NDIA said it had tightened its systems so that questionable claims are flagged sooner, and a spokesperson stressed that scheme funding is meant for participant supports rather than for people trying to exploit it.
NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister told ABC News Breakfast the scheme has to run with integrity, saying money lost to fraud is money that could otherwise reach a person with disability. That argument underpins the government's case for the investments it has made in the area, she said.
The cases before the courts
One of those charged is a woman employed by the NDIA. Police allege she passed on 78 NDIS participant records without permission to providers she knew, who then made money from NDIS-funded revenue. She is due to appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court in December on a charge of abusing public office.
A second accused is a man in rural Victoria. The AFP alleges he took $700,000 from the NDIS across two years by setting up two businesses to defraud his own plan, submitting invoices for services he claimed to have received and then moving the money into personal accounts.
The remaining three charged are Sydney-based Chinese nationals in their 20s. Police allege they obtained Services Australia users' details through a phishing operation and redirected their support payments, with victims sent to a fake myGov site where they entered their Centrelink records. Since March 2025 the group is alleged to have carried out more than 3,000 fraudulent transactions worth $2.5 million. Each faces one charge of dealing in proceeds of crime and appeared in court last month; they were released on bail on conditions requiring them to hand over their passports and report to police three times a week.
Investigations still open
Several strands of the operation have not led to arrests. Police are examining four other NDIS providers and one plan manager who are alleged to have claimed $100 million in funding since 2019. Detectives say they identified laundering methods including roughly $5.4 million in ATM cash withdrawals, more than $1 million spent on gift cards and purchases of gold bullion. No arrests have been made in that matter and inquiries continue.
A separate alleged syndicate is suspected of seeking $6.7 million in benefits through bogus claims with a total value of about $83 million. Officers searched two properties in Liverpool and Wakeley in Sydney and have identified six people of interest, but nobody has been taken into custody.
Police are also investigating a 34-year-old man over alleged fraud against the Department of Veterans' Affairs worth more than $29 million. He is suspected of billing the department for services his veterans support business did not deliver, or delivered only in part. Devices and a large volume of data were seized in Sydney and rural Queensland, and no arrest has been made.
The AFP has also said its work covers people linked to 10 Sydney-based NDIS providers, part of a wider set of inquiries that have not yet produced charges.
What happens next: the NDIA employee is scheduled for Adelaide Magistrates Court in December, while the AFP continues its inquiries into the providers, the alleged syndicates and the veterans' services case.