Sydney mum Hala Haouchar ordered to work off sentence for GST business rort

 "To be silent the whole day long, see no newspaper, hear no radio, listen to no gossip, be thoroughly and completely lazy, thoroughly and completely indifferent to the fate of the world is the finest medicine a man can give himself."

~ Henry Miller

07/04/2024: More Starbucks Nonsense Matt Bruenig, NRLB Edge

Warren Buffett pledges $100 billion for nothing in particular Axios

 

The Journal of Scientific Integrity Bits of DNA. See KLG here and here. Commentary

When Nina Merrilees was scammed in 2022, she was left $11,600 out of pocket and shocked that the big banks could handball responsibility for processing the fraudulent transaction without reimbursing her.

The Albury-Wodonga mother fell for the now-infamous “hey mum” texting scam, in which a criminal tricked her into thinking she was transferring money to help her daughter overseas instead of to their fraudulent account.

A mother has revealed how she was scammed out of $11,000 when she responded to a desperate plea for help from who she thought was her daughter.

Nina Merrilees, who lives on the NSW/ Victorian border said she was busy at work when she received a message via WhatsApp saying: “Hi Mum, my phone is broken, this is my new number”.

Victorian mum loses $11,000 after falling victim to ‘Hi Mum’ scam

*FTC : “Scammers are all about spinning lies, but they still operate in the real world. Many scammers pretend to be well-known businesses to gain trust and make their stories seem more believable. And scammers use real-world methods to contact people and to get paid. Reports to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network point to some of their favorites. Let’s start with the most-impersonated companies. According to 2023 reports, 

Best Buy’s Geek Squad, Amazon, and PayPal top that list. But reported losses tell a different story: losses were highest when scammers impersonated Microsoft and Publishers Clearing House.The scammers impersonating these businesses work in very different ways. For example, phony Geek Squad emails tell you that a computer service you never signed up for is about to renew – to the tune of several hundred dollars. 

Microsoft impersonation scams start with a fake security pop-up warning on your computer with a number to call for “help.”And calls from the fake Publishers Clearing House say you’ll have to pay fees to collect your (fake) sweepstakes winnings…”

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• Mindful Management: The Power of Gratitude and Building Trust – Kevin Novak explains the combination of the two should be the North Star for retaining a workforce and cultivating its potential.
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Sydney mum Hala Haouchar ordered to work off sentence for GST business rort

A Sydney mum will have to get her hands dirty after a magistrate ordered her to work off her debt to society following her conviction for rorting Australian taxpayers

A glamorous mother-of-two who scammed almost $20,000 from Aussie taxpayers via a GST tax rort has been ordered to repay the money she stole – and get her hands dirty working off her debt to society.

Under the terms of the order, Haouchar could be required to do any number of manual jobs including mowing and maintaining public spaces, removing graffiti off public buildings or working in a charity kitchen or laundry service.

Haouchar, whose previous work history includes running a failed civil haulage business that left her $100,000 in debt, confessed to setting up a fake business through her MyGov account in April 2022, in a bid to claim dodgy GST refunds from the ATO.

According to court documents, Haouchar registered the business – identified as a “beauty service or salon operation” in her own name, before lodging a business activity statement (BAS) covering the April 2022 reporting period.

The court heard Haouchar received a GST refund of $19,820 on the back of the fake details.

The money was used for “personal expenses”, her lawyer said, including everyday living expenses, repaying loans from friends and family and paying school fees.

The court heard Haouchar lodged a further statement in May amounting to a $23,700 GST refund, but the claim was not paid out.

ATO investigators grew suspicious of Haouchar’s paperwork and carried out an audit of her claim, including a review of her bank account, which showed no evidence she’d made any significant business purchases or acquisitions of the kind claimed in the BAS lodgements.

“The transactions showed evidence that the April 29, 2022 GST refund paid to the defendant by the ATO was gradually spent on personal banking expenses,” a set of agreed facts tendered to the court said.

Authorities subsequently cancelled the business’ registration and Haouchar was charged in March 2023.

In court this week, Haouchar’s barrister, AJ Karim, said she took full responsibility for her actions and provided a handwritten letter of apology on her behalf.

He further explained that Haouchar had been in debt at the time and going through a break-up with her second husband.

Mr Karim said she was currently studying to be a nurse and had excellent prospects of rehabilitation, labelling her crime “an aberration”.

As part of her sentence, Haouchar was ordered to repay the $19,820 she misappropriated and placed on a two-year community correction order, requiring her to be of good behaviour.

Haouchar has lodged an appeal against her sentence, which will be heard in the NSW District Court at a later date.