COVID-19 relief fund app fraud is now being investigated by the United States or the US Secret Service. It comes after the agency previously seized a whopping $1.2 billion from fraudsters.
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 06: A Secret Service Agent stands on the South Lawn before U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden depart the White House on November 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. The President delayed his weekend trip to Rehoboth Beach, DE after negotiating late into the with lawmakers on Capitol Hill in order to get his Infrastructure bill finally passed in the House of Representatives.
The Secret Service said in a press release that it estimated that nearly $100 billion have been stolen from the relief fund fraud.
COVID-19 Relief App Fraud and US Secret Service
As such, the US agency is now ramping up its effort to obtain the hundred billion stolen relief fund, as per the news story by CNN.
The Secret Service went on to assign its assistant special agent in charge, Roy Dotson, to take a role that specifically looks into the growing COVID-19 relief fraud.
That said, Dotson will now lead the investigation and crackdown efforts of the agency against the raging problem of fraudulent activities hitting the COVID-19 relief fund.
Dotson told CNN in the same report that the goal of the US agency is divided into two: investigation of fraud activities and recovery of the stolen money.
He further said that the agency will be maximizing its "investigative impact," and, later on, seeks to "recover as much as we can" from the stolen relief fund.
COVID-19 Relief App Fraud Investigation
According to the report by CNET, the US law enforcement reveals that the primary problem that the agency was looking into the way back in the early days of the COVID pandemic was personal protective equipment or PPE fraud.
However, this time around, as the US government has been providing its citizens with relief funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or shortly known as the CARES Act, a new fraud scheme has rapidly taken over.
The Secret Service added that the massive funding from the CARES Act has lured in "organized criminal networks worldwide."
That said, the law enforcement announced that its top priority, for now, is to ramp up its investigation efforts for the "exploitation" of the COVID pandemic relief fund.
It is worth noting that the US agency still has a copious amount of work to undertake as there are over 900 active criminal investigations, which are related to COVID-19 fund fraud.
Dotson said that the agency plans to seize and arrest these hundreds of fraudsters by coordinating with other federal agencies, the offices of the US attorney, and other financial services.
Elsewhere, Apple previously redirected a portion of the profit from its "Product Red" series sales to the COVID-19 Relief Fund.
Meanwhile, a NASA executive was convicted for spending $300,00 in the COVID Relief Fund.
Related Article: Security Researcher Finds Flaw in At-Home COVID Test, Easily Changed Result by Intercepting Bluetooth Traffic
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Teejay Boris
