Governement joins police to tackle Medicare ripoff
A joint police and Federal Government task force has been set up to investigate the Medicare ripoff revealed by Seven News last week.
Someone has been using stolen patient records to channel Medicare rebates into dodgy bank accounts.
The first cases came from Sydney's southwest but it’s feared the scam could be bigger - and more widespread.
Kristy Riley said she was much more cautious with her private details after she was caught up in the scam.
She discovered her account details had been changed and her rebates re-directed.
“I was still surprised how they could do it and it would go unnoticed for such a long time," she told Seven News
Ms Riley was one of many who came forward as investigations continued into the theft of records from separate Sydney medical facilities.
To tackle the problem Minister for Human Services Stuart Robert announced a joint strike force between the department and police.
"That's what the strike force board will look at ...whether those records taken from doctors surgeries have been used to impersonate people to access Medicare benefits."
"As New South Wales Police investigate, there are also calls for a Federal Police inquiry as political debate rages around just how wide-spread Medicare fraud really is.
The Federal Opposition claims Medicare fraud is rampant.
"What they're saying to me is that it's multi millions of dollars, that there are thousands of people who have been scammed in this,” Doug Cameron said.
