A federal watchdog on Monday issued an alert for $5.4 billion in relief that may have been fraudulently claimed through the U.S. government’s small business COVID-19 support program.
Data scientists from the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) flagged over 69,300 “questionable” social security numbers (SSNs) for “potential fraud and identity theft” linked to the programs.
The taxpayer-funded support programs analyzed by the watchdog are the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
These programs, created to provide financial assistance to small businesses and their employees affected by COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, disbursed a total of nearly $1.2 trillion….