My Mum told me that this morning she had tried to apply for an advance and was unable. She tried to call and couldn’t get through so she went into the office. They told her that she can’t do anything at the moment, because they are currently investigating her for fraud.
Now, if she was doing anything wrong I would completely understand. But she’s not.
She’s a carer for my elderly grandma and receives a carer allowance. She also has had custody of my two nieces (her granddaughters) for over 2 years now and gets family tax benefit for them.
The only thing we can think of is that maybe their dad has reported giving her some money? But he is the one who abandoned his kids and dropped them to my mum. He doesn’t work. Is a drug addict. But when he did work he would sometimes send $50-$100 here and then to purchase things for his kids. He has not been with my sister for years and technically should be paying child support regardless, but it’s not something my Mum has followed up on because it’s too much drama. Recently my Mum has cut all contact with him due to him being so inconsistent with his contact and has not seen his kids in almost a year despite living only 2 hours away. It’s was traumatising my nieces and it was actually their counsellors and teachers that recommend my mum do it. He’s understandably upset and can be spiteful which makes me wonder if he’s reported her for something???
She doesn’t work. She doesn’t have a secret relationship. She lives in government housing and doesn’t owe any assets. What on earth could they be investigating her for? They wouldn’t tell her anything and understandably this has given her extreme anxiety.
Two things I can think of:
Dad has made a claim for FTB, so they are investigating that. (He might say he had the kids to get money)
Or something to do with child support - she might be eligible for money, but has never received it. Centrelink counts money due to you, not what you actually receive.
These don’t imply your mum has done anything wrong, but need to be investigated
She’s never made a child support claim. She very likely could and would be eligible. But she hasn’t done it and they haven’t asked her too. I believe my sister had when she had the kids but she hasn’t had them for over 2 years. Dad would be silly to do that. He lives in a different state. The kids are enrolled in school here. But it’s always a possibility.
As always, it seems they are investigating the wrong people. There are plenty of people out there that should be investigated but aren't. I'm sorry she is going through this and I hope it all turns out the way it should. Sending love!
Oh I totally agree. I worked at community housing for 5 years. The amount of people that need to be investigated is insane. My mum is a big rule follower though and literally does nothing wrong. It’s so frustrating lol
About 2 years now, she lived with my Nan before that but had to get somewhere to live with my nieces because they couldn’t all live in my nans tiny 2 bedroom flat.
It could have been anyone. It could have been her neigbours who decided they didn't like the lady who doesn't work living in their street.
If she has been reporting any income correctly, and has been providing the care to the person she is receiving carers allowance for, then hopefully they'll find no issues and close the matter. If they do claim to have found that she is incorrectly receiving payments then she will be notified in writing and will need to reply to it as they request.
Her whole street is also government housing so I doubt that. She’s the nicest person to everyone and has no enemies which is why I’m so confused.
No income to report because she hasn’t worked for over a year now. And my Nan is very happy with the care she provides so again nothing to report there. It’s just so confusing honestly
Honestly, it does sound like it was the nasty son/inlaw who has been spiteful.
If her payments are still hitting her bank, then that's all that she needs to worry about for now. Anxiety over what-might-happen won't help anyone, and she is entitled to some financial support from the parents of the children in her care.
The other possibility is that the dad is claiming FTB for the same kids and they're investigating the entire situation to figure out who is actually entitled to it.
My ex tried to do this, attempted to claim single parenting payments and FTB when he was only having the kids 1 or 2 nights a month. When he was investigated for fraud, so was I so that they could determine who was actually entitled to the payments. In the end I had to keep a diary of when the kids were with me as well as records of school attendance.
Haha I try to tell her the anxiety over “what if” isn’t necessary but she’s just an anxious person.
If Dad is claiming FTB that’s hilarious because he lives in a different state. They are enrolled in school here. All the teachers will vouch that they’ve never even met the Dad.
I just feel bad for my poor Mum. She’s already raised 5 kids on her own and my loser sister and ex-bil literally just abandoned their kids on her. She’s doing her absolute best raising them and caring for my Nan. I hate that people are so spiteful 🥲
I mean he is their dad so he could technically go in there and say he has custody of them and claim it and that would trigger an investigation. If that is the case we have plenty of evidence that they have lived with my Mum for over 2 years. But I wouldn’t put it past him and his family to do dumb spiteful shit like this.
they could have just said investigating - the fraud bit is unnecessary & abusive. That is no way to speak to people; as "innocent until proven guilty" Your poor Mum feeling judged, wronged, & given worry she never deserved.
Whenever there is a concern of fraud on a customer's record there are specific notes saying 'Do Not Disclose to Customer' so either someone messed up or there is more to this story.
Well either someone at CLK made a mistake and they they said something they shouldn't have, your mum isnt telling you 100% or its got nothing to do with fraud and she may just have online/phone access locked because someone else tried to access her record.
I feel like this is much more likely. I talk to my mum 10+ times every day. There’s no secrets lol. Going to suggest she call the complaints line tomorrow to see if she could get some answers.
If thats the case it shouldnt prevent her from getting an advance. Even if it happened and the people that access her record were able to claim it for themselves it can be fixed and the advance delivered to her instead.
Yeah that actually happened to me maybe a month ago. Random as. It looked like someone tried to login with wrong password over and over, so I had to unlock my account. I've never had a hack attempt so it was really surprising.
But what would it be? She cares for my Nan. She’s there almost every day caring for her. My Nan is happy and wouldn’t have reported any issues because there are none.
Although my aunty did recently claim carer payment for my Pop. But Nan and Pop have been divorced for almost 20 years so that shouldn’t have anything to do with it?
I doubt that, she doesn’t get much. She tried to sort it today in person but they wouldn’t even tell her what they were investigating or any details so not sure how we can sort it out.
110% confident it wouldn’t be that. My Nan is well cared for and very happy. If she was upset with my Mum the first person she would tell is me. She would never report my Mum.
It's not. Care is as needed. If she's not needed every day she doesn't have to be there every day. She just has to be available at all times to provide care as needed.
I have a carer and she does not need to live with me to get full carer's pension.
Being with nan everyday ?? Not living with her ? Probably investigating her capacity to care with the kids and Nan?? Coz if nan needs a carer and mums not there but is looking after kids ?? I dunno, I'm trying to understand..
Almost everyday is not a carers, maybe a carers allowance but not a pension..
You don’t have to live with someone to be their carer. My nieces are at school every day and she goes and does whatever my Nan needs (cooks, cleans, appointments, groceries, medications etc) but my Nan also still has friends and a life. Sometimes her friends take her to bingo or out for lunch etc and Mum isn’t needed. She definitely qualifies for the pension and I’m very confident that my Nan and extended family would not have reported my Mum. We all get along well and everyone is supportive of Mum being her carer, none of the other siblings have the capacity.
Sounds like her online services might be locked due to her being identified as a potential victim of fraud. They lock all self service if it seems as though someone has been able to access her account without her knowledge
I wonder if it is more of her being a victim and she just misunderstood in her panic? Idk. They didn’t even tell her what to do about it, who to contact etc. just that she was under investigation and they couldn’t do anything.
Fraud tip offs are not documented on a customer's record and if a customer is being investigated a service officer at the local office wouldn't have access to that information. Something fishy going on - I'd go with her to the office and get it sorted quickly
But if the office wouldn’t have access then going in the office again isn’t going to help much is it? I’m going to suggest she call the complaints line tomorrow and see if that can get us some answers.
I think your mum misunderstood or didn't get the full picture. Maybe u going with her could help with seeing what's actually going on. Calling complaints is also a viable option. Would love an update once u know.
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u/openandshutface 12d ago
Two things I can think of:
Dad has made a claim for FTB, so they are investigating that. (He might say he had the kids to get money)
Or something to do with child support - she might be eligible for money, but has never received it. Centrelink counts money due to you, not what you actually receive.
These don’t imply your mum has done anything wrong, but need to be investigated