Government puts welfare cheats on notice

Welfare cheats have been put on notice: rip off taxpayers and face the full force of the law.

Figures from the Department of Human Services show more than $2.8 billion dollars was lost last year alone.

Of that figure, $1.2 billion went to family tax benefits recipients who were not entitled to them.

But not all were fraudulent.

Justice Minister Michael Keenan admits the majority were human error, paid out because of mistakes in the system or because those receiving benefits simply made an honest mistake.

But, he said, the Government would do everything it could to recover the false payments.

Those who have received payments they weren’t entitled to generally have deductions taken from on-going payments.

But Mr Keenan said the law would come down "like a ton of brinks" on those who defrauded the Commonwealth.

The Australian Council of Social Service said only a small fraction of the fraudulent claims were criminal, with the vast majority being innocent mistakes.