$280 billion stolen from Covid-19 relief fund in the US

In the US, it was reported that more than $280 billion was stolen from the Covid-19 aid fund during the pandemic, and more than $123 billion was wasted. The Associated Press (AP) reported that the US government allocated a total of $4.2 trillion as Covid-19 aid. The report reported that more than $280 billion of this amount was stolen and more than $123 billion was wasted. It was stated that this corresponded to 10 percent of the total aid provided for Covid-19. Investigators and experts, on the other hand, blamed the government for trying to distribute the funds allocated for aid quickly at the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak, and stated that there were few restrictions and insufficient oversight in applying for aid, which made it easier for scammers. Authorities stated that scammers were using the Social Security numbers of inmates and deceased people in prisons to receive unemployment benefits, and that they were doing this in many states across the country. “Here was an endless pool of money that anyone could access,” said Dan Fruchter, chief of the Fraud and White Collar Crime Unit of the Eastern District of Washington’s U.S. Attorney’s Office. “This is an unprecedented amount of fraud,” said Mike Galdo, associate director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s COVID-19 Scams Unit, regarding the theft of the relief funds. It is stated that the Washington government has so far charged more than 2,230 people with fraud, including soldiers, priests, other officials and criminals, and that thousands more are under investigation.