Consumer Losses Top $500 Million Due To Covid-Related Fraud (cnbc.com) 15
Consumer losses due to Covid-related fraud top $500 million, according to data from the Federal Trade Commission. From a report: The agency has received more than 558,000 complaints from consumers related to the pandemic since the start of 2020. About 60% of the complaints were associated with fraud, citing an aggregate loss of $501 million through July 22. The typical person lost about $370, according to the agency. "Scammers always take advantage of disasters, manmade or natural," said Susan Grant, director of consumer protection and privacy at the Consumer Federation of America, an advocacy group. Criminals have used multiple avenues to steal money from unsuspecting Americans, including fraud related to online shopping, travel and government stimulus funds during the pandemic, according to federal data.
Oh, not even the tip of the iceberg. (Score:2)
The article is derived from filed FTC complaints. I'm sure a whole lot of people didn't do that.
The true scope of consumer complaints and losses is likely much higher than official statistics, since the data is self-reported by consumers ...
Yea.
Dwarved by unemployment fraud (Score:1, Insightful)
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In other words, the extra unemployment payments alone eliminated all poverty in the U.S. in 2020 except for single parents, and two parents with 4+ kids. On top of that, people got their regular unemployment and their stimulus checks. So even many single pa
Drop in the bucket (Score:2)
https://www.axios.com/pandemic... [axios.com]
"Unemployment fraud during the pandemic could easily reach $400 billion, according to some estimates, and the bulk of the money likely ended in the hands of foreign crime syndicate"
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https://www.axios.com/pandemic... [axios.com]
"Unemployment fraud during the pandemic could easily reach $400 billion, according to some estimates, and the bulk of the money likely ended in the hands of foreign crime syndicate"
As Hunter Biden sells more "art" to the Chicoms.
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https://www.axios.com/pandemic... [axios.com]
"Unemployment fraud during the pandemic could easily reach $400 billion, according to some estimates, and the bulk of the money likely ended in the hands of foreign crime syndicate"
I believe that's a statistic developed and funded by ID.me, the same company selling facial recognition technology to a now-majority of states unemployment offices. That statistic surfaced elsewhere where someone questioned it.
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Every statistic in that article that they source comes from a someone that has a vested interest in everyone believing that fraud was rampant.
The article quotes the ID.me guy saying that up half the money was stolen. It follows that with a quote from a fraud prevention company saying up to 70% of the money wound up overseas. Then it tacks on an unsourced statistic that claims most of the rest was stolen by domestic street gangs.
Me, too (Score:3)
When W-2 and 1099 forms came out last February, I got one from the Ohio Department of Employment telling me that I had been paid unemployment, despite the fact that I hadn't. Apparently somebody had filed in my name.
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/b... [ftc.gov]
(On contacting the office, they said yes, there's been a lot of this scam, and I got a revised 1099 saying that I had not received unemployment).
Isn't that .... (Score:2)
Missing one important source: Government (Score:1)
The unnecessary shutdowns cost small businesses billions of dollars, in some cases their businesses, and even a few lives.
Whatever fraud a person can commit, government can do it better by simply being what it has become - unanswerable to the law.
Oh yeah? (Score:2)
How much did it cost us as a nation when Trump hawked HCQ and downplayed the vaccine in the process? Did that get accounted for? How much is a human life valued at for these comparisons?
Does this include (Score:2)
Some people peddling Hydroxychloroquine as a miracle cure? Or was it hydroxychloroquine + Vitamin D. Or Hydroxychloroquine + Vitamin D + Garlic?