Welfare cheat: Joulan Obeid rorted $66,000 from Centrelink under the guidance of expert fraudster Rebecca Assie and her husband
A star pupil of an expert welfare cheat rorted $66,000 from Centrelink in an outrageous scam, where she lied about her daughter having ADHD and had forms doctored with liquid paper.
Joulan Obeid, 42, cheated taxpayers out of the incredible sum by claiming Carers Payments and Child Disability Assistance Payments for almost three years between 2012 and 2015.
The Sydney mother raked in her fortune as one of most successful ‘students’ of the now-notorious fraudster Rebecca Assie.
Assie and her husband Jamal El Ali taught Obeid the ‘secrets’ of Centrelink forms, coached her what to tell doctors and brazenly altered medical reports.
Centrelink began paying Obeid out every fortnight after the pair conjured up a medical report for her daughter in 2013. It was purportedly signed by a psychologist.
Things started getting complicated two years later when Centrelink started asking questions.
Centrelink started asking questions about Joulan Obeid – so she turned once more to welfare cheats Rebecca Assie and her husband
Assie (pictured) had herself been claiming welfare payments since 1990 and received a total of $209,499.90 between then and 2011
Jamal Elali (pictured) masterminded the Centrelink scam, before his wife took over when he died in 2015
Obeid called Assie asking for help and the expert cheat offered the couple’s expertise – in exchange for a small fee.
Assie, 61, and her now-dead husband had been running an elaborate money-for-nothing scam for locals from their housing commission flat in Padstow.
They helped at least five customers.
‘They all pay one kilo and half of grapes for it … everyone,’ Assie told Obeid in a recorded phone call.
‘Bring them (the forms) to me and bring me one and a half of grapes and come to me in Chullora and I’ll fix everything for you.’
Assie was speaking in code. She wanted $1500 from Obeid.
Question 18 regarding the daughter’s behaviour was altered… ‘none of the above’ was removed and five other options were selected
Details of Rebecca Assie’s liquid paper job from court facts
Court facts revealed how Assie and her husband then coached Obeid in what to say to doctors and specialists.
El Ali told Obeid to tell the specialist her daughter has ‘ADHD and bad behaviour’ and bring the form back.
But Obeid’s plan to keep living off the taxpayer rivers of gold ran into trouble.
Assie accompanied Obeid to her first doctor’s appointment – and Assie was told to leave.
The doctor warned Obeid what she was doing could be considered illegal and refused to fill out the Centrelink form.
Assie recently pleaded guilty to running a welfare cheating syndicate. In 2013 she was found to be hiding $250,000 in her housing commission home, believed to be proceeds of crime
Assie, 61, admitted helping customers steal $137,397 worth of Centrelink payments between February 8, 2013 and September 3, 2015
‘Why don’t you sort everything out like last time?’ Obeid asked El Ali.
He replied: ‘They changed the rules… Centrelink became tougher. It’s not like before… and the doctor we used to deal with left, he’s not here anymore.’
So Obeid tried another doctor. Assie told her to tell the medical professional, ‘I’d like to see the psychologist here’.
She won a referral and the psychologist filled out a medical report. But it didn’t say what the fraudsters wanted.
So Assie painted liquid paper over the inconvenient facts in the report while Obeid watched on.
‘In particular, question 18 regarding (the daughter)’s behaviour was altered such that the selection ‘none of the above’ was removed and five other options were selected,’ court facts said.
‘(Obeid) knew that the medical report … was false or misleading in that it had been altered with liquid paper and contained a diagnosis which (Obeid) knew was untrue).
Like any good student, Obeid questioned her teacher. She wasn’t sure they would get away with it.
‘Listen (Rebecca) … are they going to say anything about the liquid paper that we put?’ she asked.
‘No, no, no, no,’ Assie replied.
Little did both know Federal police had been listening to their phone calls for months.
Centrelink signed off on Obeid’s payments for a couple of months after getting the white-outed document.
But they stopped them altogether in September 2015 and soon demanded she pay the money back.
Obeid was arrested, charged with obtaining a financial advantage by deception and jailed last September for up to two years two months. The minimum sentence was one year behind bars.
Assie recently pleaded guilty to fraud charges, admitting she helped her customers steal $137,397 worth of Centrelink payments. Her husband died in 2015.
It’s understood the pair made quite a bit of money from the con job. Assie was found with nearly $250,000 in a safe when her home was raided by the Australian Federal Police in 2013. She will be sentenced in July.