Remember the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program? And the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program?
Yeah, both were rife with fraud. The scams were so bad that the Secret Service announced that criminals stole almost $100 billion of the funds intended to help small businesses and people that needed the funds.
For the bad guys that think they may have gotten away with something, be wary; the Feds are coming for as many of you as possible. So far, they have been able to claw back over $2.3 billion of the stolen funds, which is literally just a drop in the bucket.
One hundred suspects have been arrested so far, and the group of fraudsters that have been charged includes sole individuals acting alone and large organized groups.
The Secret Service is mainly known for protecting the President, but they specialize in financial fraud, and this is the group that’s rolled up their sleeves to catch the crooks that took advantage of this system in such a disgusting way.
This is a huge endeavor. Here’s what Assistant Special Agent in Charge Roy Dotson told CNBC.
“I’ve been in law enforcement for over 29 years and worked some complex fraud investigations for 20 plus years, and I’ve never seen something at this scale. There’s no doubt that the programs were easily accessible online. And so, with that comes the opportunity for bad actors to get into that mix. It was necessary to try to get these funds out to people that were truly hurting, and no fault of anybody.”
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