According to reports, the Secret Service has found that nearly $100 billion has been stolen in COVID relief funds since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The estimate was made using data from the Labor Department and the Small Business Administration with the stolen funds coming from the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.
There has been $2 billion retrieved up to this point and over 100 arrests made. The Secret Service also noted that there are currently 900 open cases surrounding the relief scams.
“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,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Roy Dotson. “It was necessary to try to get these funds out to people that were truly hurting, and no fault of anybody.”
Source: youtube.com
