(Oz) Dole office accidentally gives €1.6m to claimant

snubbleste

After discovering $2m had been deposited into her bank account, Judy Lorbek paid off her mortgage, went shopping and took two of her three children on a holiday to Sydney.
Ms Lorbek had requested about $2000 in government child support this year. Instead, she received $2 million. And she spent it.
The 46-year-old mother of three from Coes Creek, Queensland, was charged by the AFP with dishonestly appropriating property of the Commonwealth. Her son explains:

''What originally happened, is my father is a millionaire and my mum only got a really small payout when they split and she should have gotten millions, but she basically got nothing. ''So she applied 18 months ago for some child support and my sister said that when the money came, she thought it was a payout from my father.''
He added: ''I think when she got this money, she must have thought all her Christmasses have come at once.''

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/stung-for-2m-centrelink-gift-20120310-1ur3a.html#ixzz1oiqYCQMi

So what would you do in this situation? What defence would you put up when caught?

Biggins

snubbleste wrote: »

So what would you do in this situation? What defence would you put up when caught?

Stupidity?

She should have known they would come looking for it!

beco2010

I woulnd't get caught

ebixa82

I would have said my father is a millionaire and my mum only got a really small payout when they split and she should have gotten millions, but she basically got nothing and see what happened then.

Biggins

Biggins wrote: »

Stupidity?

She should have known they would come looking for it!

I think this is fair enough though

'What originally happened, is my father is a millionaire and my mum only got a really small payout when they split and she should have gotten millions, but she basically got nothing.
''So she applied 18 months ago for some child support and my sister said that when the money came, she thought it was a payout from my father.''

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

a quick email or phone call to the fathers lawyers would have been prudent there

Lumbo

This could only happen in Ireland...... oh wait a minute.

later12

No reasonable individual, regardless of the wealth of their ex partner, could reasonably be landed with €2,000,000 transaction into their current account and not ask questions about it.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

a quick email or phone call to the fathers lawyers would have been prudent there

yeah, i suppose really the quote was a bit reasonable as an initial reaction but there's no excuse for not following up on it

tfitzgerald

Fair play to her . I hope she had a great time

Biggins

bluewolf wrote: »

I think this is fair enough though

What originally happened, is my father is a millionaire and my mum only got a really small payout when they split and she should have gotten millions, but she basically got nothing.
''So she applied 18 months ago for some child support and my sister said that when the money came, she thought it was a payout from my father.''

Indeed, she might have justification.

The other side might argue that if she got that amount of money, or any amount of money, checking her account on line or in paper form (and she had to do so, you just don't pull huge cash as she did out of a cash machine that has a max payout in any one day), she would have seen in text (a few millimetres away?), the source of payment given to her.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

a quick email or phone call to the fathers lawyers would have been prudent there

Aye. A simple thing to do.
If only to say "Thanks for the money!" or confirm she got it?

Will I Amnt

Identity change............................[snake voice]BYE!!![/snake voice]

Stiffler2

cambo2008 wrote: »

Identity change............................BYE!!!

I would state that the money was simply resting in my account.

MungBean

tfitzgerald wrote: »

Fair play to her . I hope she had a great time

I do too because she's probably gonna lose her home and be in debt for the rest of her life.

Sierra 117

What happens to the interest earned on the money? Would she be allowed to keep that?

Biggins

Sierra 117 wrote: »

What happens to the interest earned on the money? Would she be allowed to keep that?

If they really wanted to be exact and/or petty, they could argue a case that it too belongs to them as it would have earned same or even more interest, had it been done right (the financial transaction).

If they are entitled to claim back the principle amount, I assume they are also entitled to claim back the interest too.

...Open to be wrong though.

castie

Money to Caymans.
Move to non extradition treaty country or alternatively buy a cheap island.
Job done!

Overheal

later12 wrote: »

No reasonable individual, regardless of the wealth of their ex partner, could reasonably be landed with €2,000,000 transaction into their current account and not ask questions about it.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, just ride it.

ejmaztec

later12 wrote: »

No reasonable individual, regardless of the wealth of their ex partner, could reasonably be landed with €2,000,000 transaction into their current account and not ask questions about it.

Why bother wasting time asking questions when there's good money to be pissed away?

MagicMarker

I would have cleared my debts, feign ignorance and offer to repay the amount back at a rate of €20 a week, interest free. This amount of course would be subtracted from my welfare allowance.

Devi

I think it’s morally wrong to charge her, she didn’t go out of her way to steal the money. The money was basically given to her and therefore in my opinion her property. It should be the manager of the social welfare office that is held accountable. A small line of code in the software could have stopped this were if a payment goes over a certain amount it has to be signed off.

I think it is just another example of one rule for them and another for us. If your private business installs a product and your customer doesn’t pay for it, you can’t go on site and take the product back as that would be theft even though they haven’t paid for it, but yet the government can give mess up and your life gets f**ked for it. I know it would have been prudent to check before spending but hindsight is........

Hail 2 Da Thief

Biggins wrote: »

If they really wanted to be exact and/or petty, they could argue a case that it too belongs to them.

Wouldn't see it as being petty at all. It's interest gained on the tax payers money after all!

AngryBollix

Thank god it wasnt our dole office

El Weirdo

I'd say there are a few regulars foaming at the mouth as they click into this thread. I can imagine the disappointment they'll feel when they realise that the story is from the other side of the world.

RichieC

I'd of dumped it straight into a mutual fund and start making money on it, by the time the dole office copped on I could give them the money back and kept a nice bit of lewt!

warning, may not be a simple as that.

MungBean

She's an idiot, basically everything she spent is gonna be taken back through the sale of her house.

Not sure how the property market is in Australia but she's probably lose if its a quick sale. She's just extended her mortgage by about 10 years for a holiday.

snubbleste

El Weirdo wrote: »

I'd say there are a few regulars foaming at the mouth as they click into this thread. I can imagine the disappointment they'll feel when they realise that the story is from the other side of the world.

That was deliberate by the OP :cool:
I think the 19 year old son summed up such a good excuse for what occurred. She should pay it back though.

biko

Title amended (Oz)

Overheal

Would have bet it all in a casino. At the roulette table. Everything on black.

Casillas

Overheal wrote: »

Would have bet it all in a casino. At the roulette table. Everything on black.

Red 15

RiseToTheTop

Well she can't leave the money, she definitely have to declare 2 million to customs.

She would have to be held TBH. I think 10,000 Aussie $ is the limit without declaring, anything over that you have to declare.

Biggins

Hail 2 Da Thief wrote: »

Wouldn't see it as being petty at all. It's interest gained on the tax payers money after all!

O' I agree.
Others might say it would be petty of them if they did.

StupidLikeAFox

snubbleste wrote: »

The 46-year-old mother of three from Coes Creek, Queensland, was charged by the AFP with dishonestly appropriating property of the Commonwealth.

Hold on a second here. What theft did she commit? They were the ones who put the money in her bank account. Its not up to her to supervise state bodies!

If I am transferring money and it goes to the wrong account I am at the loss of it and have no come back to try and retrieve the money. Whats the difference here?

Biggins

I once 'lost' eight million for an afternoon.
(Honestly - transferred it to a wrong account.)
Thankfully I got it back no hassle!
I was schiting bricks till I got it back!
When I got it back, into the company that was supposed to have it, I felt like I was on a bloody high, with just sheer relief!

NEVER AGAIN did I make the same error!

Mr.Biscuits

Damn, was hoping the Tin Man got it.

wilkie2006

snubbleste wrote: »

After discovering $2m had been deposited into her bank account, Judy Lorbek paid off her mortgage, went shopping and took two of her three children on a holiday to Sydney.

"Hey kids, now that I'm loaded and don't need to be supported in old age, I don't need to fcuking pretend anymore: your brother's a cnut. Tell him we're going on holidays and he'd better be gone by the time we get back."

bbam

Yea I'd look for a good deposit account and earn some interest,,,

Or if you weren't tied to the place, bolt to a far flung corner of the globe and live it up...

mconigol

2million on red....

don ramo

just start spreading it all over the place, transfer as much as possible out of the country, buy bonds and mutual funds and have them all routed through 4 or 5 non extradition countries, then just safely leave the country before anyone cops on that the money is missing, and hell even if you do manage to get caught some day at least you would have had a blast :D

Kidchameleon

Now give it back...

Give what back??