Three Chinese immigrants are among five people charged after a nationwide investigation into $235 million in alleged NDIS, Centrelink, childcare and veterans benefit fraud.
Investigators from Operation Integrity Fusion, which included seven sub-operations, targeted alleged fraud across the Department of Education, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), and Services Australia.
Raids in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, rural Queensland and the NSW Central Coast resulted in the alleged seizure of more than $120,000 in cash, $15,000 in silver bullion, $11,000 in gold coins, and approximately $60,000 worth of jewellery, the government’s Fraud Fusion Taskforce (FFT) said on Wednesday.
The three Chinese nationals – Yangfang Shen, 23, Yayi Chen, 22, and Hansen Ji, 26 – were charged with dealing with the proceeds of crime by investigators with Operation Cedar in NSW, and were granted bail after facing court in Sydney last month, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Police allege the syndicate carried out a phishing scam targeting myGov to harvest personal details, and used them to redirect $2.5 million in Centrelink payments since March 2025.
In Victoria, investigators with Operation Hawk charged a man with multiple offences for allegedly defrauding the NDIS out of $700,000 by establishing two businesses to defraud his own NDIS plan and submitting false invoices.
In South Australia, a 42-year-old NDIA employee was charged by Operation Inca-Varrakai investigators after allegedly providing 78 NDIS participant records to providers she had a conflict of interest with, generating $1.6 million in NDIS-funded revenue for those businesses.
Four other ongoing investigations – Operation Rhodonite, Operation Ford-Marcos, Operation Fortis-Hailstorm and Operation Evergreen – executed search warrants across the country but are yet to make arrests.
Homes in Greystanes and businesses in Auburn, western Sydney, were raided by investigators from Operation Rhodonite, which is focused on a NSW-based NDIS network suspected of lodging $1.1 million in fraudulent claims.
Police said the alleged syndicate carried out activity consistent with money-laundering, including making $5.4 million in ATM cash withdrawals, purchasing gift cards worth $1.1 million, and buying gold bullion.
Operation Ford-Marcos investigators carried out raids in Liverpool and Wakeley, western Sydney, while looking into a syndicate involving six people, 10 primary NDIS providers, and five secondary providers which is believed to have made claims totally $83 million, and is suspected of laundering $6.7 million in cash, gold and jewellery.
Operation Fortis-Hailstorm investigators executed search warrants in Fairfield West, Wyoming, and Gosford in September in relation to a Sydney-based family daycare service suspected of fraudulently claiming $4 million in Child Care Subsidy payments.
The final investigation, Operation Evergreen, is looking into a 34-year-old man suspected of defrauding the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) out of more than $29 million by billing the DVA for services not, or partially, provided by his veterans support business.
Investigators raided properties in Concord West, Dulwich Hill and North Parramatta in Sydney, and at Biddaddaba Creek, in Queensland.
Header image: Left, right, two of the Chinese nationals being arrested in Sydney (FFT).
