'Face of greed' fraudster sent to jail

Jeanette Ford. Photo / Doug Sherring

A benefit fraudster described as the "face of greed" has been sentenced to three years in jail.

Jeanette Ford used forged documents, including driving licences and birth certificates, to steal $231,000 in benefits.

The 49-year-old lived in up-market St Heliers in Auckland and admitted stealing aliases from Kiwis living overseas during the 13 years she was deceiving Work and Income New Zealand.

She was sentenced at the Auckland District Court yesterday after admitting seven charges of using a document to obtain a pecuniary advantage, 20 of dishonestly using a document, six of obtaining by deception and three of using forged documents.

Ford was paid $128,358.76 under the name Jeanette Geraldine Hartley, $63,464.61 as Jenette Christina Ford, $33,083.05 as Kathleen Eddington and $6297.69 under the name Kim Sharee Watt.

She also used the names Virginia Jane Morrison and Bridgette Beswick.

Eddington, Morrison and Watt were stolen identities.

Ford used her fake identities in Winz offices in Auckland and Hamilton and was caught during Ministry of Social Development "information mining" - the process of extracting hidden patterns from data.

Ministry of Social Development head of fraud Graeme Carruthers said two of the identities Ford stole were from New Zealanders overseas.

"Using improved data mining techniques and technology, Ministry of Social Development fraud investigators found links between some of the identities," he said.

"We then worked closely with the Department of Internal Affairs, the Land Transport Safety Authority and police to successfully prosecute Ford."

Ford was the "face of greed" and people like her made it harder for genuine beneficiaries.

"New Zealand prides itself on a welfare system that provides significant help to people in need," Mr Carruthers said.

Earlier, the Weekend Herald revealed that Ford had been previously sentenced to a community work term in 2007 for forging invoices worth $1250 for reimbursement from the Women's Refuge which she was managing at the time. She pleaded guilty to the four charges of forgery.