The federal government gave $5.4 billion in Covid-19 aid to small businesses with “questionable” Social Security numbers, according to a report released by a watchdog overseeing pandemic aid.
The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) issued a fraud alert Monday identifying nearly 70,000 questionable Social Security numbers used to obtain pandemic aid from two programs started under then-President Donald Trump and run by the Small Business Administration, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Covid-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL).
PRAC’s fraud alert comes as the House Oversight Committee, now led by Republican Rep. James Comer, is set to hold its first public hearing on Covid fraud on Wednesday. PRAC chair Michael Horowitz is expected to testify.
PRAC’s fraud alert was first reported by The Washington Post.
PRAC said in the alert published online that it analyzed more than 33 million PPP and EIDL loan applications and, working with the Social Security Administration, discovered more than 221,000 questionable Social Security numbers. Those numbers either were not issued by the government or did not match the name and date of birth on record with the government, “suggesting potential identity fraud,” PRAC said.
Out of those 221,000 applications for aid with problematic Social Security numbers, the government approved nearly 70,000 of them between April 2020 and October 2022, PRAC said.
“The PRAC identified $5.4 billion in potential identity fraud associated with 69,323 questionable and unverified SSNs used across disbursed Covid-19 EIDL and PPP applications – that is, applications that successfully receive a loan and/or grant,” the fraud alert said.
CNN has reached out to the Small Business Administration for comment.
The Paycheck Protection Program was a key part of the…
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