A former Services Australia employee used privileged access to Centrelink profiles to submit fraudulent government benefit claims in a "significant breach of trust", a court has heard.
Seve Rudolf Seifried, 40, was handed a suspended sentence in the ACT Magistrates Court on Tuesday, July 28, to be served in the community through a 12-month good behaviour order.
He pleaded guilty to charges that included obtaining a financial advantage by deception and unauthorised access to or modification of restricted data.
The court heard the offending occurred over about a year before he resigned from Services Australia in August 2022 after being notified the agency was investigating his unauthorised access to a relative's Centrelink record.
The prosecutor said the former employee lodged 22 fraudulent claims, receiving $11,350 through various government payments, including COVID-19 disaster payments.
Some claims were made under his own Centrelink account, while others involved accessing at least four other people's Centrelink profiles, completing claims in their names and submitting them without their knowledge.
One of the victims was a friend of the man, who sat at the back of the courtroom as the prosecutor read his victim impact statement.
"I have lost a lot of trust in friends and the people around me," the statement said.
"I miss the way I used to be able to trust new people ... and I miss the way I used to make friends without worrying whether they had an ulterior motive.
"Seve has taken this trust from me."
The prosecutor said the offending "particularly undercuts and harms a social welfare system designed for people in financial hardships" and was "certainly not a victimless crime".
She said the fraud involved "quite a number of false claims" over about a year and was difficult to detect because many payments were processed in good faith.
"It is serious because of the position of trust he held while he was employed at the agency," she said.
"Consequently, his role at the agency involved a significant breach of trust."
The prosecutor said the former employee used his "privileged access" to protected data to benefit himself financially, amounting to a significant breach of trust with both the agency and its customers.
The man's defence lawyer said the offending occurred while her client was battling alcohol and gambling addiction.
She said he was not charged until February 2026, giving him almost four years to turn his life around.
"The delay of the four years is unfortunate, but he has had the benefit of having four years to demonstrate his life is completely different now," she said.
"He has now shown the court that without a court order, he has taken steps to rehabilitate himself."
She said he had significantly reduced his drinking, stopped gambling, and was in stable casual employment.
Magistrate Alexandra Burt questioned the extent of Seifried's remorse as she sentenced him.
"Whether you are truly remorseful or not is somewhat of a question in my mind," she said.
"I accept you have some remorse, but exactly of its extent I can't be sure."
Ms Burt found the offending involved sophistication and said he had abused the trust placed in him both as a Services Australia employee and as a friend.
However, she acknowledged the steps he had taken to rehabilitate himself since the offending when she sentenced him to a good behaviour order.
As part of his sentence, he is also ordered to pay reparations totalling $11,350.
