A wave of fraudulent flood claims is being investigated as scammers try to cash in on natural disasters in south-east Queensland and northern New South Wales.
Residents in affected areas have received letters from government agencies addressed to strangers since the floods.
Some of them contain applications for healthcare and concession cards or rental assistance.
Gympie pensioner Len Kippax said he had received more than 30 letters addressed to different names in the past month.
"I've lived here for 20 years and I've never heard of these people," Mr Kippax said.
"I think there's a bit of a scheme going on."
He said it was "pretty low".
"You [have] only got to go down to Mary Street today and they're still recovering."
Less than a kilometre away, fellow resident Ange Gillham said she started receiving up to six letters a day addressed to strangers at her postal address following the floods in late February.
"I know for a fact that these people have never lived in this home," Ms Gillham said.
"I don't know how they got our address, but they're not entitled to anything living here anyway.
She said she didn't lose power or have a lot of flood damage that could be claimed.
On authorities' radar
Flood-affected residents have been eligible for several forms of state and federal government assistance since the disasters in February and March.
Services Australia has so far paid out more than $1.7 billion to 1.78 million people across the country since the floods, including $11.6 million to 13,000 people in Gympie.
It is investigating the fraudulent letters.
General manager Hank Jongen said while instances of fraud were minor, a number of false claims from people outside flood zones had been detected.
"Quite frankly if people are deliberately setting out to rip off the system they will be caught," Mr Jongen said.
"Not only will they then be required to repay the money that we've paid, but in addition to that, they could very well face prosecution with severe penalties under the Crimes Act."
IdCare managing director David Lacey said using a false address was a starting point for scammers to claim government assistance.
"Whenever there is a disaster unfortunately, natural or man-made, we do tend to see scams and fraud follow it," Dr Lacey said.
"Often it's the address that matters most, because you need to situate yourself within the disaster to access payments."
He said the support payments sought by scammers could be income tested which made concession and senior's cards important to criminals.
Dr Lacey said the sheer amount of letters residents were receiving indicated the fraud could be the work of an organised crime group, rather than individuals.
"Most of that organised crime is not physically in Australia, it's based offshore," he said.
People still suffering
While scammers try their luck with the system, Gympie flood charity hub volunteer Amanda Irvine said many locals who truly needed help were still waiting.
"It really breaks my heart," Ms Irvine said.
"There's still so many homeless people, there's still so many people that their houses have been condemned, or they're in temporary accommodation, couch surfing."
She said she was hearing stories every day of how much people had lost.
Anyone with information about disaster assistance fraud is urged to contact the Services Australia fraud tip-off line on 131 524.
