According to the Secret Service, about $100 billion has been taken from COVID-19 assistance programs set up to assist companies and people who lost their employment as a result of the devastating global epidemic.
The sum that was stolen from the overall $3.4 trillion in pandemic benefits approved by Congress, according to Roy Dotson, the Secret Service’s national pandemic fraud recovery coordinator, illustrates “the sheer enormity of the pot is tempting to the thieves.”
According to the Associated Press, this estimate of theft is based on Secret Service investigations and statistics provided by the Department of Labor and the Small Business Administration.
In the course of its investigations into unemployment insurance and loan fraud, the Secret Service actually claimed it had confiscated $1.2 billion and refunded more than $2.3 billion in stolen cash by working with banking partners and governments to reverse transactions. The CDC also clearly stated that it is conducting over 900 criminal investigations into pandemic fraud. There are numerous instances in every state, with over 100 persons arrested and detained up to present time.
According to the Secret Service, the law enforcement’s policy priorities have been altered over time. During the early stages of the global epidemic in this country, there was a focus on preventing the misuse of personal protective equipment. Authorities’ first concern now is to stop the pandemic relief fraud, which has expanded since Congress approved pretty substantial relief total expenditure, attracting criminals and organized criminal networks from all over the world.
