Tauranga man Harrison Tuck pleads guilty to fraud charges related to benefit scheme

A man created a fake landlord, invented tenancies and forged rental documents to claim money from a government hardship scheme, while some would-be tenants believed the homes were real.

Harrison Tuck has admitted to setting up the false company "CLB Property", and using the alias "David Wilson", to fraudulently receive more than $45,000 from the Ministry of Social Development (MSD).

An investigation, codenamed Operation Hawk, found the 36-year-old had provided forged and false tenancy documents to 21 MSD clients, using them to apply for grants that help with urgent costs or services - in this case, for bond and rent-in-advance costs for new tenancies.

However, the tenancies weren't legitimate and nor was the accommodation provider set up by Tuck.

Some of the MSD clients were in on the scam and received a share of the interest-free money, while others were deceived and believed they were being offered a genuine tenancy.

In the Tauranga District Court this week, Tuck admitted the 24 charges related to the scheme and will be sentenced in October.

How the scheme worked

MSD offers hardship assistance in the form of emergency grants and one-off payments.

These grants are available to those receiving a benefit and other low-income New Zealanders.

The grants are recoverable but interest-free - with the recipient usually required to repay MSD at a low weekly rate.

Usually, when a grant is provided, the funds are paid to the accommodation supplier directly, rather than to the beneficiary - often by direct deposit into the supplier's bank account - with the supplier needing to be registered with MSD first.

Tuck registered "CLB Property" as a supplier with MSD between November 29, 2018, and July 4, 2022.

The supplier status was disabled after MSD received information that CLB Property had received hardship grants totalling $45,502.75 for 21 different MSD clients under allegedly fraudulent circumstances.

The subsequent investigation found the bank account for CLB Property was owned by Tuck and that CLB Property was a false supplier.

It turned out that CLB Property was fictitious; it used the details of a separate company with an Auckland address.

Tuck forged documents to create CLB Property as a supplier, including altering a Kiwibank bank statement to show a false statement number, access number and account balance.

He also operated email addresses purporting to belong to CLB Property, using them to communicate with MSD, and with MSD clients.

Between December 5, 2018, and December 24, 2019, forged and false tenancy documents were created and supplied to MSD clients, who then submitted them to the ministry to obtain hardship grants for bond, rent in advance and rent arrears.

But none of the tenancies were genuine. They were either for fictitious properties or used the details of a real property without authorisation.

The funds would then be transferred to Tuck or withdrawn as cash, and sometimes split with the MSD client or third parties.

The scheme meant Tuck, and sometimes the client, both obtained immediate interest-free cash from the ministry.

After each application was granted, the clients' benefit entitlements would be reassessed, as supplementary benefits such as the Accommodation Supplement and Temporary Additional Support were calculated based on the purported accommodation costs.

This meant the MSD clients also received supplementary benefits to which they were not entitled, based on the falsely declared accommodation costs.

Tuck's first fraudulent grant was applied for in his own name.

On November 29, 2018, he used false tenancy documentation for 16A Kingswood Rd, Tauranga, with CLB Property as the purported landlord.

The ministry processed the request on December 5, 2018, and $1752.75 was paid to the CLB bank account.

The defendant transferred the funds to his personal account within minutes of the transaction.

Once the defendant had obtained that initial grant, he continued to tell MSD that the Kingswood Rd address had associated rental costs of $285 per week, and was paid the Accommodation Supplement and Temporary Additional Support based on this.

This continued from December 2018 to March 18, 2019, and Tuck received $2831.95 in benefit payments he was not entitled to.

Tuck took this approach with a string of other addresses, involving MSD clients, with the scheme running from the end of 2018 until November 2019.

In some months, there were multiple grants applied for by different clients, with three applied for in June 2019.

Most of the 21 purported tenancies were in Tauranga but there was one in Hamilton and a few in Auckland.

They all named CLB Property as the landlord.

One of the MSD clients made multiple applications - he applied for $2640 in initial assistance on October 1, 2019, which was paid to CLB Property.

Tuck transferred $1760 to the client, and the remainder was withdrawn as cash.

Then, just a few weeks later, the client applied for $140 for rent arrears.

Again, it was paid to the CLB bank account the same day, with Tuck transferring the entire amount to the client.

On December 5, 2019 the client applied again, for $440 for rent arrears, paid again to CLB, but this time Tuck withdrew the whole amount as cash.

The agreed summary of facts detailed each false tenancy and claim.

Sometimes Tuck would give a share to the person who applied for the grant, sometimes he transferred the whole amount to himself, and sometimes it was withdrawn as cash.

He also transferred amounts to unnamed "third parties".

Some of the MSD clients are named as parties to the offences, and also face charges that are being dealt with by the court.

The summary of facts noted that the more than $45,000 fraudulently obtained did not include the "consequential loss to the Ministry", which was the amount of supplementary benefits paid out to all clients involved that were based on fictitious accommodation costs.

Tuck is now in custody and will be sentenced in Tauranga District Court in October.

* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.