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For: The Opinion
Monday, November 4
US Secret Service discovers nearly $ 100 billion in Covid relief funds have been stolen
The United States Secret Service disclosed that nearly $ 100,000 millions of dollars in pandemic relief funds through various programs launched by the federal government to help Americans nationwide .
Most of that figure comes from unemployment fraud. The United States Department of Labor reported that about $ 87, 000 millions of dollars in unemployment benefits could have been improperly paid, with a significant part attributable to fraud .
In addition, the funds were diverted by scammers also have to do with the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, the Disaster Economic Damage Loan program and another program established to distribute unemployment assistance funds in the United States.
So far, have recovered more than $ 2.3 billion in stolen funds , resulting in the arrest of more than 100 suspects ranging from individuals to organized groups, according to the agency a.
The government has spent around $ 3.5 billion in public money destined to aid due to the repercussions that the coronavirus has left since the beginning of 2020, when the pandemic started.
The Secret Service, too, announced the appointment of a new pandemic fraud recovery coordinator to oversee its extensive investigations into the massive number of fraud cases resulting from all that theft.
“I’ve been in law enforcement for over 29 years and I’ve been working on some complex fraud investigations for over 20 years, I’ve never seen anything on this scale, ”said Roy Dotson, national pandemic fraud recovery coordinator.
In an interview with CNBC, Dotson maintained that the existing conditions to obtain the funds have made things easier for criminals tes, especially for being online. At this time, the federation body has more than 900 active investigations related to pandemic fraud .
Additionally, from his new position, Dotson is also required to oversee investigations related to cryptocurrency fraud . In those cases, criminals often persuade victims to transfer funds to crypto wallets that are used for illegal schemes or to open bank accounts that are used to launder money.
In accordance with Federal government data, more than $ 100 millions of dollars in fraudulent funds passed through investment accounts since Congress passed the Cares Act last March.
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