The alleged mastermind behind what police have called a fake sex abuse claims scheme worth more than $1 billion has been identified, with late TikTok star Russell Manser also linked to the investigation.

A strike force was established in February last year to investigate alleged fraudulent compensation claims for historic sexual abuse brought against the NSW Department of Communities and Justice and the NSW Department of Education.

Investigators believe they identified "claims farmers" who are alleged to have approached adults who were former young offenders, inmates, and school students, to encourage them to file fake claims for historic child sex abuse.

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The same alleged "claims farmers" are then alleged to have coached the claimants on how to pursue those claims through various Sydney law firms, allegedly receiving a benefit for each referral.

NSW Police Detective Superintendent Gordon Arbinja said "claims farmers" would receive at least $2200 per claim submitted through a law firm.

"There were several claims farmers that were spruiking for business they coached and incited several people to make false claims through these entities," Arbinja alleged.

"This group held another 100 applications so police intervention yesterday prevented at least $30 million being paid."

Police say the proceeds were referred to as "bum money" within the group, and investigators allege a "significant portion" of $1.3 billion worth of claims are fake.

"I believe using my core sample, a significant majority were fraudulent, this core sample is just the tip of the iceberg, we've got a very, very big problem here," Arbinja said.

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Arbinja said that while the claims farmers have been the focus of this investigation, police would also look into the claimees as well.

"At the Department of Communities and Justice, one-third of inmates at the Cooma Correctional Centre have submitted claims which I'm going to investigate," he said.

"They rehearsed what to say in the application and a lot of them were strikingly similar to each other, I have evidence that says they were actually coached and they were never sexually abused in the first place."

Nearly 4000 claims had been submitted to the NSW government as part of the alleged scheme.

While the system has been allegedly exploited, Arbinja said the scheme would still support legitimate victims.

"The NSW Police support legitimate victims they should be compensated and that's why the system was introduced in the first place, but the system is poor, it needs to be strengthened," he said.

At about 6.05am yesterday, police carried out a search warrant in Girraween, Sydney, where they arrested 55-year-old Fotis Antonios, the alleged boss of the syndicate.

He was charged with 21 fraud-related offences and refused bail to appear in court today.

Police will allege he was one of the supposed "claims farmers".

Throughout yesterday, police arrested a further six people, including a 53-year-old woman, a 32-year-old man, a 42-year-old man, a 52-year-old woman, a 35-year-old woman, and a 23-year-old man.

Ky Manser, 23, was arrested on the Gold Coast, while the other five were all in Sydney.

Police were also investigating his father Russell Manser, who was a former bank robber turned advocate for survivors of institutional sex abuse and TikTok star.

Russell Manser died last year, allegedly leaving the Gold Coast arm of the business to son Ky.

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They were all charged with publishing false material to obtain advantage.

Investigators also carried out a search warrant at a Sydney law firm.

Police will allege in court the seven charged stood to make $3.75 million in fake sex abuse compensation claims, but that the claims had not yet been paid out.

The investigation continues, with police saying more arrests are expected.

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He was fleeing police when he broke into the pensioner’s home and assaulted him.

He wanted to have sex with the fake girl even after she told him her age.

Emergency services were called to the scene about 4pm.

Three Chinese warships off Australia's north-east coast are being monitored by Defence, just days after a Chinese fighter jet deployed flares in close proximity to an Australian surveillance plane in the South China Sea.

A Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft was conducting a routine maritime surveillance patrol in the South China Sea on Tuesday when the interaction with the Chinese PLA-AF J-16 fighter aircraft occurred.

"The PLA-AF aircraft released flares in close proximity to the RAAF P-8A aircraft," Defence said in a statement.

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"This was an unsafe and unprofessional manoeuvre that posed a risk to the aircraft and personnel."

There were no injuries to Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel or damage to the RAAF P-8A.

"The safety and wellbeing of our ADF personnel continues to be our utmost priority," the spokesperson said.

"Australia expects all countries, including China, to operate their militaries in a safe and professional manner.

"For decades, the ADF has undertaken maritime surveillance activities in the region and does so in accordance with international law, exercising the right to freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters and airspace."

The flare incident comes after a similar event in May last year when a Chinese jet fighter dropped flares in front of an Australian Navy helicopter in international waters.

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Defence is also monitoring a People's Liberation Army-Navy task group of three ships operating to the north-east of Australia including a Jiangkai-class frigate, a support vessel and a Renhai-class cruiser.

Defence analyst Malcolm Davis described the latter as "one of the world's most heavily armed warships in existence".

"We have 112 vertical launch system capabilities that can fire missiles," Davis said.

"These ships are operating in our economic exclusion zone.

"Our international law of the sea says that naval vessels can enter the economic exclusion zones of other countries.

"We'll be watching them very closely indeed to make sure they don't come any closer, particularly within our 12-nautical-mile territorial seas."

The vessels travelled through South-East Asia, before entering Australia's maritime approaches.

One of the vessels, the Hengyang, travelled through waters to Australia's north.

"Australia respects the rights of all states to exercise freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with international law, just as we expect others to respect Australia's right to do the same," Defence said.

"Defence will continue to monitor the activities of the task group in Australia's maritime approaches with a combination of capabilities, including air and maritime assets."

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Iced coffee fans have been left with a sour taste in their mouths after a popular Australian brand mistakenly informed them they had won a $1000 prize.

Dare Iced Coffee sent out emails to customers who entered its "Daremergency" promotion yesterday with a message of congratulations and information about their winnings.

The promotion, which asked customers to scan a QR code and enter details to win a share in a $1 million prize, erroneously alerted entrants they had won – but hours later, Dare sent a follow-up email with a correction.

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"We are writing to provide an important update regarding a communication you received this morning about being notified as a provisional weekly winner in our promotion," Dare's email with the subject line "Daremergency Correction" read.

"We regret to inform you that a technical error occurred and, upon review, we can confirm that you were not a valid winner in this instance.

"Accordingly, please disregard the communication from this morning that was sent in error."

Dare apologised to the non-winners and acknowledged it was a "disappointing" outcome.

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The original email told winners they had won the weekly draw and would be given a $1000 prepaid Mastercard.

Some customers who were sent the correction email took to social media to express their disappointment.

Dare's parent company Bega apologised for the error in a statement to 9news.com.au.

"We sincerely apologise for a technical error that resulted in incorrect provisional winner notifications being sent to some participants in our recent Daremergency promotion," a spokesperson said.

"This issue was due to an unexpected system malfunction (with a third-party provider) and we are actively investigating the cause to ensure it does not happen again.

"We understand this may have led to confusion and disappointment, and we deeply regret the inconvenience caused.

"We were made aware of the error on Wednesday 12 February and affected participants were contacted immediately to clarify the situation."

Dare said the emails were sent to a "very small portion" of customers and confirmed the company plans to send the impacted people a $50 e-gift card.

"While no system is ever completely immune to human or technical errors, we're confident that the measures we've implemented will ensure that winners will be notified correctly moving forward and prevent a repeat of this issue," the spokesperson added.

"Transparency and fairness are our top priorities, and we remain committed to ensuring all of our promotions are run with integrity."

A similar mistake was made by Australian bread company Helga's in November last year.

Queensland couple Mark and Lynne Lillington were told they'd won a $1000 cash prize, however never received their full earnings after being told there had been an issue with the brand's website.

The pensioners were one of hundreds of people who were mistakenly told they were "provisional winners".

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‘If I were a school student I would have loved a pie as my taxpayer-funded school lunch.’

Ex-MP says blogger’s urging to put images on 4Chan is ‘like trying to get me killed’.

Supermarkets and schools have been closed and residents warned to prepare for the worst as severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia barrels towards the Western Australia coast.

The cyclone has developed into an intense category five system and is expected to make landfall on the Pilbara coast tomorrow, the Bureau of Meteorology said today.

Zelia is forecast to bring extremely destructive winds and intense rainfall which will likely lead to flash flooding.

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"Category five cyclones have wind gusts exceeding 280km/h, we could expect to see wind speeds of this magnitude at the core," WA Bureau of Meteorology manager James Ashley said.

"This is a very dangerous system that will cause significant impact."

A dangerous storm surge is also expected to hit when Zelia makes landfall tomorrow, persisting into Saturday.

WA Department of Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm said Zelia is expected to trigger dangerous flash flooding across impacted regions including Karratha, Port Hedland and Dampier.

Major retail shops and 12 schools are shut, along with regional airports.

Several roads have also been closed in preparation for flooding.

"Impacts to secondary and unsealed roads are expected, which will result in some communities being isolated," Klemm said.

"DFES will undertake resupply missions after the cyclone makes landfall."

Klemm warned residents to prepare for wild weather, to take shelter or evacuate if necessary and to keep across alerts.

Less than an hour ago, 40,000 messages were sent to residents following an upgrade of the watch and act alert.

One evacuation centre has been opened in South Hedland and a second is being prepared in Karratha.

Klemm said DFES has secured aircraft and extra flood boats in preparation for emergency evacuations.

There are 50 mobilised incident management teams in place to prepare for Zelia.

The Bureau of Meteorology earlier today warned Zelia was "rapidly intensifying" as it moved west, just off the Pilbara coast, after reaching category four overnight.

There is a cyclone "watch and act" alert in place for residents in Bidyadanga to Dampier, including Port Hedland, Karratha and Dampier, and extending inland to Marble Bar.

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Those living between Karratha and Bidyadanga, including Port Hedland, have been warned to watch for a dangerous storm tide as the cyclone rolls towards the coast.

Senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said Zelia was a "very organised" and "very intense" tropical cyclone and already well on its way to reach the WA coast.

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Damaging wind gusts reaching 290km/h and more than 500mm of rain are forecast for communities across the Pilbara coast from tonight, with the wild weather set to intensify tomorrow.

"Currently, a category four system has rapidly intensified overnight and likely to become a category five system later today," Narramore said.

"We're already seeing falls of 80 to 90mm around Port Hedland and even isolated falls in excess of 100, and we're likely to see many more millimeters on top of that."

The destructive inner core of the cyclone is expected to cross the coast between Whim Creek and DeGrey, reaching Port Hedland, tomorrow afternoon and evening.

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Tropical Cyclone Zelia is now about 140km north-west of Port Hedland and 240km north-east of Karratha.

An extra 40 emergency services personnel have been deployed to the Pilbara region as well as five flood boats with 10 crews, and four additional aircraft are on standby, including a rescue chopper with a winch.

Residents near the DeGrey river catchment and around the Shaw and Pilbara rivers have been warned to be on alert for flash flooding.

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A man is dead, a toddler is fighting for life, and three others have been been injured after they escaped a burning home in Victoria's north-west.

Firefighters spent almost half an hour extinguishing the blaze at the single-storey home on Barr Street in Maryborough, north of Ballarat, after it caught fire just after 11.30am.

A man, who is yet to be formally identified was pulled from the home suffering cardiac arrest, but could not be revived.

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A two-year-old child was also pulled from the home by firefighters and was airlifted to the Royal Children's Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Two women in their 30s and 60s and a three-year-old child all managed to escape the home.

They suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

It's understood the victims of the fire are related.

Police said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire.

"Well do a thorough investigation … and we'll be able to advise further once we progress the investigation," Senior Sergeant David Flood said.

"For a rural country town, obviously people are well known and well connected, so this is tragic… It's unexpected."

A crime scene has been established around the home, where police and the arson squad are expected to remain for several hours.

The fire is not being treated as suspicious at this stage.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au