Five people have been charged with using fake and stolen medical records to plunder more than $500,000 from Medicare.
Patient records illegally taken from a string of medical clinics in Sydney's southwest have been used to lodge thousands of fraudulent claims, police say.
Investigators stumbled across the ruse after an unrelated raid at Rosemeadow in September last year.
They will allege three men and a woman collected $320,000 in fake claims before being caught.
Two of the southwestern Sydney men have each been charged with 19 counts of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.
A third man is accused of a dozen similar counts as well as possessing identity information to commit an indictable offence.
The 31-year-old woman faces the same charges in addition to dealing with the proceeds of crime.
Police say they expect to make further arrests.
Meanwhile, a 40-year-old Chatswood man, not involved in the syndicate, is in custody charged with stealing more than $200,000 from Medicare.
