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Secret Service returns $286 million in fraudulent pandemic loans to the Small Business Administration

  • The U.S. Secret Service announced Friday the agency had returned millions in fraudulently obtained Economic Injury Disaster Loans to the Small Business Administration.
  • Some $286 million in funds were obtained using both fabricated information and stolen identities and sent back to the agency.
  • The suspects used Green Dot Bank, a fintech institution, to hold and move the fraudulent funds. More than 15,000 accounts were used in the conspiracy, the agency said, by individuals in the U.S. as well as  domestic and transnational organized crime rings

A secret service agent.Julia Nikhinson | AP

The U.S. Secret Service returned $286 million in fraudulently obtained pandemic aid loans to the Small Business Administration, the agency announced Friday.

The funds sent back to the SBA were obtained via the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program using both fabricated information and stolen identities.

The suspects used Green Dot Bank, a fintech institution, to hold and move the fraudulent funds. More than 15,000 accounts were used in the conspiracy, by individuals in the U.S. as well as domestic and transnational organized crime rings, the agency said.

Investigations are ongoing and further information about suspects was not immediately released. The investigation was initiated by the Secret Service field office in Orlando, Florida and Green Dot bank worked with the agency to identify the fraudulent accounts.

"Fraudsters in general are always looking for ways and techniques to better do their crimes and modern conveniences are just one of those things they use. So currently, cryptocurrency is a big thing, fintechs, third party payment systems. But there's not an institution, even our traditional financial institutions, that weren't targeted during the pandemic," Assistant Special Agent in Charge Roy Dotson, lead investigator for the Secret Service, told CNBC in an interview.

Initial investigations indicated the majority of the fraudulent accounts at Green Dot were established with synthetic and stolen identities, and the utilization of "willing and unwilling money mules," Dotson said.

The Secret Service and SBA Office of Inspector General put out advisories to 30,000 financial institutions in early 2020 to lay out fraud indicators and guide the banks to partner with federal agencies to recover fraudulent funds, Dotson said. He added that the investigations will likely last years due to the size and scope.

OIG Inspector General Hannibal Ware said the partnership with the Secret Service has resulted in more than 400 indictments and nearly 300 convictions related to pandemic fraud to date.

The U.S. government allocated more than $1 trillion to Main Street under both the Paycheck Protection Program and EIDL program. The PPP allowed small businesses to borrow loans that may be forgiven if the borrower used the majority of the capital on payroll, while the Covid-19 EIDL program allowed borrowers to access loans based on temporary losses of revenue due to the pandemic. An advance grant was also available under the EIDL.

Reviews of the two programs by the SBA's Office of Inspector General warned that criminals would potentially exploit the system due to the fast-moving nature of the rollout and demand for aid. CNBC investigations revealed, in some cases, how easy it was for criminals to obtain fraudulent aid via stolen identities.

The SBA OIG said it has identified $87 billion of potentially fraudulent EIDL loans.

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