Australian Charity Loses $1.5 Million to Online Gambling Fraud

An employee at an Australian charity has been accused of stealing over $1.5 million in order to feed a gambling addiction. The employee, a finance clerk named Dinesh Enoka Abeysuriya, is accused of stealing the money from UnitingCare Queensland over the course of a year beginning in March 2009.

According to prosecutors in the case that is currently being tried in the Brisbane District Court, Abeysuriya, 29, inflated invoices and processed other invoices twice in order to generate money he could skim from the charity. The total amount allegedly stolen was around $1.53 million. After the fraud was detected, Abeysuriya attempted to flee to Sri Lanka, but was eventually forced to return to Australia and surrender to authorities.

The money was used to support Abeysuriya’s online sports gambling habit. Over the time he was gambling, Abeysuriya overdrew his credit card account by an incredible $223,000.

Abeysuriya pled guilty to two counts of fraud, and will remain in custody until his sentencing next week. After he completes his sentence, he is expected to return to his native Sri Lanka.

UnitingCare Queensland is a health service provider run by the Uniting Church which services around 14,000 throughout Queensland. It has an operating budget of around $950 million, making the fraud quite significant to the organization. While $600,000 was recovered from Abeysuriya, it is unclear how or if the organization will be reimbursed for the remainder of their losses.