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A Sydney grandmother has been accused of scamming taxpayers of more than $200,000 by pretending to be blind for 21 years.

Channel 9s A Current Affair reported last night that Rebecca Assie hadreceiveda disability pension for the past 21 years after claiming that she was unable to work due to blindness, despite also passing the sight tests required to obtain a drivers licence.

ACA, which videoed Assie walking about her neighbourhoodand going about activities without assistance or apparent vision impairment, said thatthe 60-year-old shopped around for an ophthalmologist that was willing to attest to her blindness, after one told the Department of Human Services that he could not understand why the patient is applying for a pension.

She has normal corrected vision for distance and near, the sceptical ophthalmologist wrote. After Assie found an ophthalmologist willing to certify that she was blind, Centrelink granted her a disability pension.

She also, however, maintained an drivers licence, apparently passing the vision tests required to do so, ACA reported.

But it appeared from the program (below)the DHS had caught up with Assie. ACA also interviewedHuman Services Minister Alan Tudge, who called her case one of the most extraordinary hed come across.

ACA reported that the DHS was now working with the Sydney woman to retrieve the $209,000 in payments she had wrongfully claimed.

Read more here:
Grandmother 'scammed' $200K from taxpayers by faking blindness - Starts at 60

This entry was posted on May 17, 2017 at 12:47 am and is filed under Blindness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |