centrelink fraud

At the moment i am feeling so scared, over the weekend i got summons to go to court over a debt with centrelink, to give you a bit of background info i was on single parent payment and reported my earnings every fortnight, while working at one job i wasnt given payslips so it was really hard to work out especially if i was having sick days, over time etc, another job was full time and i had been given the wrong info and had reported to centerlink my net income instead of gross for a few months, then my other job i didnt receive all my payslips and usually get alot of payslips at once, because my life was really full on with raising the kids and working full time i made a huge mistake and never double checked the pay slips i received, all this happened between 2005 - 2008, I found out about the mistakes i had made at the end of last year and soon as i knew about the debt i started a payment plan straight away. The total of the debt is $14 000. I always did my tax returns and thought that the ato and centrelink did a data match to make sure everything was correct. It wasnt consistant the under estimation of my income there was some over estimation etc. after the debt had been worked out a centrelink employee contacted me and asked for me to go in for a interview to work out what had gone wrong and to sort out the situation, informed me just to bring a friend or relatived if i wanted to and not to worry about seeking legal advise. I went for the interview and she informed me not to worry it was normal process but she was going to read me my rights and that was normal and it was just to sort out the problem. As far as i knew i was only there with a centerlink worker to find out what went wrong then she told me she was a fraud investigator, i feel like i was under false pretences at that interview, it felt like a trap to get me to admit to something i didnt do on purpose. She showed me a table of all the estimates etc and basically that was it. She also informed me i would get a transcript within 7 days of the interview which i never received and when i asked for it she refused it to me, she also refused me having a copy of the table she had done up with all the reportings of my income etc. I told her i didnt receive my payslips for one job and it was a honest mistake. I am seeing a solicitor next tuesday about this but i am so scared, i dont want to go to jail and miss out on seeing my kids. Can anyone please give me advise on this, i have never been in trouble with the law before and i am feeling so sick just thinking about it.

thanks for response jewlesy, still so nervous about it all, as i said before i have never been in trouble with the law before, not even a speeding fine!

To say:
"You will not go to jail 100%"
is WRONG!!! and very misleading to say the least.

i actually was in court today for the same thing, reported some fortnightly income wrongly assumed that when i did tax it would work it self out , but apparnetly not , i have never been in trouble before and got a good behavour bond for 2 years and a criminal record, mine was for $8 k over a period of 4 years, i can fight the charges but it has cost me over 6k so far and at the end of the day you cant beat centrelink, plus with my job i cant have a criminal record

yeh i see my lawyer next tuesday, i am hoping that it doesnt drag on to long cause i am not handling the stress well at all. the centrelink employee i had the interview with refused to give me the information with all the time i had wrongly reported my income and also refused to give me a transcript of the interview, but on the recording she said she would send it out within 7 days. badluck were u on the single parent payment as well??

yeah i was , but i wasnt called in to explain myself i just got a court notice , mind you it was for the year 2004. they dont care if your are actually under the yearly figure its what you report each fortnight

badluck... how come you got finger prints done?? is that normal? I spoke to my lawyer and he said basically that there is no point fighting it cause the charges against me are for finanical advantage and basically i am guilty of that as the money did reach my bank account. we still havent received any information from centrelink in regards to the times it happened where i had incorrectly reported so at this stage it looks like the court date will get ajorned. My lawyer also said nearly all these cases end up with a conviction record

i got finger printed because i got 2 year good behavour bond and a criminal record "against the commonwealth government" basicaly a fraud charge.. they where looking at weekend detention but i work weekends and they dont do weekend detentions during the week days .. basically be ready to get a criminal record plus one of these
weekend detention
comunity service about 200 hours
jail
good behavour bond

if you dont work weekends at the moment i would suggest you get a weekend job so you dont have to do weekend detention, having kids wont save you from going to jail, it depends on the magistrate, and how many years this went on for, and if you didnt bother to try and contact them to tell them the income reported at the time was wrong, i didnt bother to read there letters ( who does)and they where letters about updating my income estamites, as i thought it would all pan out over the year..
basically i was crapping my pants as i have 2 kids (one under a year)and if my job finds out about the charges im jobless

maybe find out what day the court hearings are on and go and watch them to see what the others are getting as punishment and what they are saying to help you with your court day.. its actually interesting and you will be surprised to see how many peolpe are in the same vote as us..this may help you prepare for yours.. i hope i have helped you a little bit, i dont wont to scare you but i wont you to be prepared for yours as i didnt know anyone that this has happened to before other then myself

Badluck...you seem to be similiar in predicament to those guys in those old B&W "film noir" movies of old....where they get all these bad breaks right throughout the movie. Fingerprinted? Charged with criminal fraud? What did you do....steal from the taj mahal? And now you say that you have cancer???? Gees you are certainly meeting a lot of uncompassionate people in law enforcment/judiciary??