Police are working with the Department of Immigration after 39 people were charged over an alleged daycare fraud syndicate.
Twenty-two mothers in south west Sydney were arrested and charged this week after 17 people were charged in May over the alleged rort.
Police allege they took part in a huge childcare scam which gained $4million in just nine months.
In a press conference on Thursday, Acting Assistant Commissioner of State Crime Command Stuart Smith said police were working with immigration.
Police usually work with border protection when a suspect is a recent arrival whose alleged crimes may deny them the right to remain in the country.
The man who allegedly masterminded the scam, Alee Farmann, is an Iraqi refugee.
Police arrested seven women and a man on Tuesday before arresting 16 women on Thursday morning. One of them swore as she was arrested
Twenty-three women and a man have been arrested this week over an alleged fake day care plot. Pictured: One of the arrested women
The alleged scam involved a network of fraudulent daycare centres set up under the name Red Roses Day Care, police say.
Police allege the company did not actually care for any children but was a front used to claim government subsidies.
Up to 150 parents would list their children as being cared for by fake centres, police allege.
The centres would then claim the government childcare subsidy and the fraudsters would share the proceeds, detectives claim.
In May, police arrested those allegedly in charge of running the scam, including Farmann, who founded and directed the Red Roses business.
Then on Tuesday and Thursday this week, police arrested more than 20 mothers who were allegedly involved.
Twenty-two people were charged this week, with two women released ‘pending further inquiries’. More charges are expected to be laid.
One of the women wearing an Adidas hoodie shouted and swore at a police officer who was filming her arrest.
‘I’m going to stick my finger up your f****** a***,’ she shouted, showing her middle finger.
The parents, from south-west Sydney, were arrested as part of a police crackdown on Red Roses Day Care company. Pictured: One of the arrested women
Police claim up to 150 people used the business to fraudulently claim a rebate of up to $146 a week per child. Pictured: One of the arrested women
One of the women wearing an Adidas hoodie shouted at a police officer who was filming her arrest
Police claim some parents each claimed fraudulent rebates for between three and seven children in care.
The children were real, but they allege the day care centres were not.
To onlookers, the business looked like a legitimate enterprise operating out of multiple sites in Sydney and Wollongong.
The business said it provided ‘safe, nurturing and loving’ care to more than 150 children but police allege there were only photos of the kids.
Police allege play areas had been mocked up, timesheets faked and rosters fixed – and there are even claims of a faked ‘graduation’ ceremony.
Farmann was allegedly raking in $30,000 a month, drove a Range Rover and purchased a flash $1.5million townhouse last year.
But New South Wales Police allege the 49-year-old Iraqi refugee’s success was built on a series of lies.
A woman is arrested for allegedly using a fake day care company to receive childcare subsidies
Detectives arrested more than 20 women this week over their alleged role in a family day care fraud syndicate
A woman is arrested and taken to a police station accused of enrolling her child in a fraudulent day care scheme
Detectives allege the day care centre went to great lengths to make their alleged fraud seem real.
During the supposed ‘graduation’ ceremony last December, Year 6 students were handed mortarboard hats and several adults were given ‘educator awards’.
At one point, the woman announcing the awards admitted she did not know one of the teachers ‘very well’.
A smiling Mr Harmann was filmed introducing himself and giving a brief speech, while shaking hands with several ‘educators’.
But within the months, the whole alleged plot came crashing down.
In the first wave of arrests in May, police raided 23 properties from southwest Sydney to Wollongong.
Three people were charged with directing a criminal group and 14 with participating.
One of the women charged at the time allegedly had $35,000 cash in her handbag when she was arrested at her South Granville home.
Police seized cash and a new Range Rover, along with large volumes of documentation, including business records, and two electronic control devices.
Alee Farmann was charged with knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group – in the form of his alleged Red Roses Day Care scam, which pocketed government subsidies
Farmann had reason to smile: He purchased this $1.5 million townhouse just last year
His home included a well-lit, ultra-modern kitchen with an island
Farmann’s alleged syndicate is accused of going to extraordinary lengths to conceal the operation that put bikie gangs to shame.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith, said detectives want to ‘completely dismantle the business model’ of the enterprise.
Mr Smith said police ‘know’ there are as many as 100 other syndicates out there following similar practices, costing Sydney at least $750 million a year.
‘This should act as a further warning for anyone else involved in similar syndicates – you are being monitored and we will arrest anyone who intends to make fraudulent family day care claims.’
Handcuffed: Farmann is taken away by police after being arrested at his home in May
The syndicate is accused of going to extraordinary lengths to conceal the operation that put bikie gangs to shame
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