The American secret service have reported that at least $100 million has been misappropriated from COVID-19 relief fund that was formed in order to help jobless people ( who lost their job due to pandemic) and businesses.
The estimate is based on data from Secret Service affairs and the Department of Labor and the Small Business Administration, said Roy Dotson, the agency's national pandemic fraud recovery coordinator in an interview. The Secret Service did not include the COVID-19 fraud cases being prosecuted by the Justice Department. Significantly, 3% of the $3.4 trillion has been scammed, with the majority of that figure coming from unemployment fraud. The Labor Department reported that about $87 billion could have been paid out in unemployment benefits, a significant portion of which was due to fraud. The Secret Service said it seized more than $1.2 billion while investigating the unemployment insurance and loan scam, and returned more than $2.3 billion obtained fraudulently by working with financial partners and for transactions with states. The Secret Service says it has found more than 900 active criminals in the pandemic, cases in every state, and has arrested 100 people so far.
The Justice Department said last week that it had prosecuted more than 150 defendants in more than 90 criminal cases and received $75 million in cash proceeds from fraudulently received Paycheck Protection Program funds as well as multiple immovable properties and purchased luxury items. With the proceeds was seized in excess of Rs. One of the best-known programs created out of the March 2020 CARES Act, PPP offered low-interest forgivable loans to small businesses struggling to meet payroll and other expenses during the pandemic-related shutdown.