A PROLIFIC fraudster jailed last year for using a lonely hearts scam to swindle more than $120,000 from an elderly man has pleaded guilty to defrauding the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to the tune of more than $157,000.
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Susan Diane Reed, now 67, of Wallsend, was jailed in December for a maximum of three years after she admitted to using a personal ad to trick a recently widowed 74-year-old man into sending her tens of thousands of dollars, money she said she needed for holidays, deposits on houses, cars, furniture and Christmas presents.
Reed told him she was expecting a $1.6 million insurance payout and would pay him back, but there was no such settlement.
Reed, a chronic lonely heart scammer who in 2005 was jailed for more than five years for convincing elderly men to send her more than $135,000, was up to her old tricks. But it appears she has more than one MO.
While on bail for the lonely hearts scam, investigators discovered Reed had received 13 payments ranging from $8000 to $10,000 between June and November, 2020. Police dug deeper and found those payments had been made using NDIS funds paid to a woman who falsely claimed she had been providing round-the-clock care for Reed.
And it was all Reed's idea; she recruited the woman to participate in the fraud and took her through step-by-step what she would have to do, from opening bank accounts to creating false invoices and making the fraudulent claims.
As a result of the fraud, more than $239,000 in false claims were submitted against Reed's NDIS plan.
And using these funds, Reed instructed the woman she had recruited to pay her a total of $157,400.
More than $126,000 was paid in 17 online banking transfers, but when the woman asked if the bank would question why Reed was receiving regular lump sums Reed asked to be paid the rest in cash.
Before the money started rolling in during June 2020, Reed's bank account was overdrawn. But from that date until November that year, Reed withdrew more than $70,000 and used the account to make payments to AAMI Insurance, Flight Centre, Amart Furniture, Foxtel, Optus, Energy Australia, Coles, Woolworths, Bunnings and Big W.
Reed was arrested in February 2021 and has remained behind bars ever since.
She is due for parole for the lonely hearts fraud in August, but will stay where she is after pleading guilty on Wednesday to the NDIS fraud.
Reed, who is represented by solicitor Mark Ramsland, will next appear in Newcastle District Court next month to get a sentence date.
