Fraud and investigations

We find benefit fraud in lots of different ways, including:

• through members of the public
• sharing information with other government agencies
• our own internal sources, and
• regular entitlement reviews.

If we have information that suggests you may be involved in benefit or housing fraud, our investigators need to gather evidence.

Evidence helps us determine if you:

• received money you weren't entitled to, and
• misled us to receive it.

Our investigators will talk to you as well as other people. They'll decide on a case-by-case basis whether to talk to you first or go to a third party.

They will also make sure the right amount of information is collected.

We will talk to you in most cases

In most cases our investigators will contact you first to request more information about your situation and talk to you about our concerns.

If they want to talk to you about your entitlement or an investigation, they'll meet you at a time that suits you. You can choose whether or not you want to be interviewed. You can also get legal advice if you want to.

Legal advice

You may wish to seek advice about this from an advocate or legal representative. If you want legal advice and don’t already have a lawyer, you can contact:

• your local Community Law Centre, or
• Citizens Advice Bureau.

www.communitylaw.org.nz

Citizens Advice Bureau (cab.org.nz)

If you are interviewed

If you choose to be interviewed, they'll give you an opportunity to tell us:

• your side of the story, and
• about any changes in your circumstances.

They'll also go through the information we have and there'll be opportunities for you to ask questions. 

If you need to, they can make a further appointment to discuss your entitlement in more detail.

Bring a support person or advocate

You can bring a support person or advocate with you to the interview. For example, you could bring a lawyer, family member, friend, an interpreter or benefit advocate. Please tell us if you want an interpreter and we can arrange one for you.

Your rights at the interview

What you say in an interview can be used as evidence in a criminal prosecution. Because of this, you have rights which we'll remind you of at the interview.

• You don't have to answer all our questions and you can stop the interview at any time
• You can leave the interview at any time
• You can speak with a lawyer or support person at any time in private.

We may talk to a third party

Our investigators may request information from others before they talk with you. This can include:

• financial institutions
• employers
• property managers, and
• other government agencies.

They may also contact other organisations or talk to people in the community. 

Requesting information from third parties

When we have to approach others for information directly, we can use powers under the Social Security Act 2018 and the Public and Community Housing Management Act 1992. These powers to collect information are controlled by Codes of Conduct with rules about what information we can request and the process we must follow.

We'll only gather information that is relevant and necessary for our investigation.

We may use publicly available information

We may also access information that's publicly available, including:

• newspapers and media
• using internet search engines
• looking up public lists and registers, and
• social media (we won't interact with you or private groups you're part of).

We have a policy that allows us to use publicly available information for this purpose. 

If you believe we have collected information we weren't entitled to, or breached the Codes of Conduct, you can email our privacy team. 

They will look into your complaint and be in touch with you as soon as they can.

Complaint to Privacy Commissioner

If you're not happy with our response, you can also make a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.

To protect your privacy, only authorised people can access detailed information about our benefit and housing fraud investigations. This includes only a few MSD people who need it for their work.

Case managers, contact centres and most other people working at MSD don’t have access to this level of detail. However they may be able to see some information, such as letters we’ve sent to you.

If you want a copy of your records that we hold, you can ask us for this.

If you have any questions about the information in your file, or want to correct something, we can work with you to do this.

If you were investigated before 2018

If you were investigated before 2018 and want to know more about the information gathered about you, email privacyofficer@msd.govt.nz.

We'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Fraud is taken very seriously and can have severe consequences, e.g. you may:

• be restricted from using our phone and online channels
• have a decrease in the amount you get from us
• have to pay back any money you weren’t entitled to
• face criminal prosecution – this can mean a fine or being sentenced to community service, home detention or imprisonment (on top of having to pay back any money you owe us).

A conviction for fraud is very serious and can affect your:

• job or future job prospects
• ability to travel overseas, and
• ability to get a loan, credit or insurance.

From 2012 until 2018, for the most serious fraud allegations, we went to third parties for information without going to the client first.

In 2019, an Office of the Privacy Commissioner inquiry found we had been acting inconsistently with our legal obligations for some fraud investigations. 

We accepted this finding

We accepted all 5 recommendations made by the Privacy Commissioner and made changes to the way we do investigations. We also undertook an independent review of our fraud investigation practices and policies and made more improvements in line with that.

Our investigators now decide on a case-by-case basis whether to go first to the client, or third party, and to make sure the right amount of information is collected.

Privacy Commissioner’s 2019 inquiry

If you were investigated before 2018

If you were investigated before 2018 and want to know more about the information gathered about you, email privacyofficer@msd.govt.nz 

We'll get back to you as soon as we can.