How Centrelink-scamming nurse rorted $100k in taxpayer money
A nurse who falsely claimed she was a single parent while still being married in order to get Centrelink payments has been jailed for three months.
Nicole Dunjey, from Pimpama on the Gold Coast, married her boyfriend in 2010 and let Centrelink know as required.
However, when she realised that her payments as a single parent would stop, she called Centrelink back and informed them that her and her husband had separated.
Over the next six years, the nurse received $99,662.08 in single parent payments, reported the Gold Coast Bulletin.
It was only after her and her husband applied jointly for a loan at NAB in 2016 that Dunjey was busted.
The ATO quickly discovered that the pair shared the same address, had gone on a holiday to New Zealand together and that her husband was noted as her next of kin.
The woman pleaded guilty to dishonestly gaining financial advantage.
However, Dunjey claimed that she did it to support her child as the amount her husband earned wasn’t enough.
Her husband earned $400,000 over the six years of their marriage
The judge said that her offending was “persistent and deliberate” and ordered the nurse to pay back the money.
She has been jailed until December 11, when she will be released on a $1,000 good behaviour bond.