Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government stepped in to provide billions of dollars to struggling businesses and individuals. In doing so, a number of relief programs were established to disburse the funds.

Because of the urgency to get this money to the public, a lack of safeguards that would have otherwise been in place along with lenient application policies led to widespread fraud across all levels of the government. Attempts to obtain this funding fraudulently were targeted at all available programs, including the Payment Protection Program and the federal unemployment assistance program.

Not long after the funds were distributed to Americans, the Small Business Association (SBA) along with the Department of Justice and other government agencies began to uncover the widespread fraud.

At the end of August, the Secret Service announced that it had recovered a whopping $286 million in relief funds that were meant for the small businesses that needed them the most. This recovered amount is one of the largest attempts yet. The recovered funds were a result of an investigation launched by the Secret Service’s Orlando, Florida, field office.

The recovered funds come after an online banking institution in Texas, Green Dot Bank, got in touch with the Secret Service over questionable activity. Officials detail that at least 15,000 accounts were created at Green Dot Bank. These accounts were opened by the alleged conspirators using fake identities. It's believed that these conspirators used the same fake IDs and fake documentation of employment to obtain funding under the Economic Injury Disaster Loans program (EIDL), a funding program established to help small businesses.

In announcing the news, the lead investigator in pandemic fraud, Assistant Special Agent Roy Dotson, detailed that many individuals were involved in the multimillion-dollar conspiracy and that there was an additional "myriad of potential suspects behind the fraud.” Special agent Dotson added that the agency believes there were additional domestic and even international conspirators involved in the scheme.

Despite the massive amount of funding that was seized and returned to the federal government, officials believe there are likely many more COVID relief-related fraud cases that have yet to be resolved. It's estimated that money fraudulently obtained at the federal, state, and local levels could amount to anywhere from $100 billion to $500 billion. With a hefty estimate like this, it could take years for the full scope of the fraud to be determined.

According to the Small Business Association’s Office of Inspector General, pandemic-related fraud goes beyond just the EIDL program. Reports from NBC News detail that as much as $80 billion of the $800 billion in funding allocated for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has been fraudulently obtained.

As much as $400 billion of the $900 billion allocated for unemployment relief during the pandemic may have also been fraudulently obtained.

Despite these massive levels of fraud, the federal government is committed to recovering fraudulently obtained funds. Assistant director with the Secret Service, David Smith, explained: “By aiding in the return of nearly $2.3 billion in stolen funds over the last 30 months, our workforce has demonstrated a clear and firm commitment to the vitality of American businesses across the country.”