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| AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis |
Criminal organizations backed by the Chinese and Russian governments have been linked to pandemic fraud, the U.S. Secret Service confirmed to Congress on Wednesday.
David Smith, an assistant director at the agency, declined to go into details but said they made the links based on financial data.
“There are some commonalities between some of the thousands of bank accounts we’ve seen to move illicitly gained pandemic fraud resources that are also being used by some of those transnational criminal organization groups,” Mr. Smith told the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
He said investigators also spotted a major Nigerian gang that branched out from its normal activities to try to grab U.S. pandemic assistance.
Authorities have previously hinted at the international aspect of pandemic fraud, but have been reluctant to reveal too much about it.
Mr. Smith acknowledged a report late last year that identified APT41, a hacker outfit backed by China’s government. NBC said APT41 stole at least $20 million from pandemic programs aimed at helping the unemployed and small businesses.
Mr. Smith said he wouldn’t speculate on whether the fraud was specifically ordered by the Chinese government.
The Washington Times has reported on one expert’s projection that foreign state-backed criminal syndicates may have stolen $140 billion in unemployment money. --->READ MORE HERE
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| AP Photo/Bradley C. Bower |
A single Social Security number was used to apply for pandemic benefits in at least 29 different states, investigators revealed to Congress on Wednesday, illustrating the size of the fraud that the government faced in doling out trillions of dollars in benefits.
Watchdogs said it could be years before they have a full handle on the amount of fraud, and said there’s not much chance of recapturing the money.
The recovery rate is likely to be about 10%, Comptroller General Gene Dodaro told the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
He said there have been 1,000 guilty pleas or convictions related to pandemic fraud, but there are still more than 600 pending cases. The inspector general at the Small Business Administration has 536 active investigations and the Labor Department’s inspector general is opening 100 new cases on pandemic unemployment fraud every week.
“This is going to go on for a while,” Mr. Dodaro said.
The Secret Service confirmed that some pandemic money was stolen by criminal syndicates backed by governments in Russia and China.
“There are some commonalities between some of the thousands of bank accounts we’ve seen to move illicitly gained pandemic fraud resources that are also being used by some of those transnational criminal organization groups,” David M. Smith, an assistant director at the Secret Service, told lawmakers.
Among those links is a Chinese hacking outfit known as APT41, which stole at least $20 million in pandemic unemployment benefits and small business loans. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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