She had applied for and received various Centrelink benefits in two names, her own and her maiden name of Ruth Green, for more than 21 years.The payments included unemployment benefits, sickness benefits, the disability pension and the age pension.
In what was described as an unsophisticated scam, Bateman had set up two bank accounts into which the payments such as Newstart and her pension were paid, the second account carrying a slightly different date of birth.
As a result, Bateman had received a total $246,327.72 in Centrelink benefits to which she was not entitled.
The fraud was eventually detected by Centrelink's data-matching system.
