Retired Couple in Florida Eligible for Nearly $100K in COVID-19 Relief Loans.
Richard and Donna Loew retired to Florida two years ago. They were trying to help covid victims.
They were eligible for nearly $100,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) to help with the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a government letter.
Loews lent Palm City, Florida. Under $50,000.
Loew and Donna Farms are borrowed.
Richard, a retired doctor, and Donna, an animal shelter volunteer, lived in a gated coastal community in Florida without ever borrowing or owning a farm.
ABC News.
Wage garnishment and lower credit scores were SBA warnings.
Donna Loew told ABC News, ‘It’s scary. “Pay them immediately. Government.”
The SBA claims Dr. Richard and Donna Loew owe nearly $100,000 in covid relief loans they never took out.
The SBA claims Dr. Richard and Donna Loew owe nearly $100,000 in covid relief loans they never took out.
ABCNews
Richard Loew has kept over 200 pages of notes on his two years of dealing with the Small Business Administration’s customer service, dozens of calls to that department, affidavits to the FTC and local law enforcement reporting identity theft against himself and his wife, attempts to escalate the case to the FBI, and letters to both of his local congressmen.
SBA letters continue.
“I feel filthy. I avoid that person “Loew.
(Further: Republicans in the House are investigating possible fraud involving Ebola and Zika pandemic donations) The Loews were two of thousands of Americans who used fake identities to defraud the COVID-19 relief fund of millions.
Three years later, investigators, Congress, and the White House are still looking for stolen funds and how much public money was misappropriated.
Because they fell through the cracks, Loews is a major problem but not the solution.
“What can I do?” Loew asked.
PRAC chairman Michael Horowitz told ABC News that covid fraud claims will rise.
PRAC chairman Michael Horowitz expects more covid fraud claims, ABC News reported.
ABC News pandemic: speed over safety.
ABC.
Michael Horowitz, PRAC chairman, called Loews’ situation typical.
PRAC found nearly 70,000 potentially fraudulent Social Security numbers used to apply for $5.4 billion in EIDL or PPP funding.
Horowitz confirmed that thousands of Americans may have had their identities stolen but cannot do anything about it.
Most federal agencies are underfunded, Horowitz told ABC News.
“The victims are often struggling out there to deal with these problems that the agencies didn’t do enough to protect their identities,” he said.
Senators finish COVID-19 talks.
Horowitz blamed speed.
“Choices caused the epidemic. Speed mattered. Our tab. Uncensored” Horowitz quote.
Supposedly, “Investigate later. Cash out, please, “said. “Unwise. Mistake. Nah.”
The Small Business Administration’s independent watchdog has identified program gaps and predicted fraud accounting will continue until 2023.
In a report, Inspector General Hannibal Ware said SBA’s biggest challenge is COVID-19 stimulus lending.
SBA loan processing took a record 14 days in 2020. Our workforce increased by 10.
The SBA’s “lowered guardrails” for pandemic relief loans increased the “risk of fraud,” according to several inspector general reports.
Ware noted in his 2021 Loews report that the SBA did not update COVID-19 EIDL identity theft victims.
He interviewed 18 potential identity theft victims for his writing. “These individuals have been waiting a long time, some for months, for a resolution on potentially fraudulent loans in their names that could negatively affect their credit,” he wrote.
“Report identity theft to SBA” forms were available online at sba.gov/fraud in February 2021.
ABC News: 25,000 SBA identity theft emails. SBA has settled 8,000 claims and is reviewing 5,000.
The SBA claimed to have contacted thousands more people who may have been victims of identity theft but haven’t reported it or discovered that their personal information was used to apply for a loan.
The department is “committed to assisting people and providing expedited relief to victims of identity theft” and has “dramatically improved its technology and expanded its staff capacity” since the pandemic.
Loews followed the SBA procedure without success. Two years later, comfort eluded them.
A loan agent at the SBA’s customer service center told Loew in mid-March that his case was still being investigated, and in late February, they received another letter demanding repayment.
Due to SBA policies, Loew’s situation was initially kept quiet. Government officials informed Loews Monday night.
“reforms”
Christina Carr, a Small Business Administration spokesperson, told ABC News that “additional reforms” like multi-factor authentication and billing pauses are helping identity theft victims.
President Joe Biden promised to sign an executive order to help identity fraud victims in the “coming weeks” over a year ago. He will lead many of these changes.
ABC News reported that unnamed administration officials expect action soon.
Biden requested $1.6 billion from Congress, $300 million of which would triple the number of “strike forces” at the Department of Justice investigating COVID relief fraud and $400 million to victims.
Horowitz says that shows people are waking up to the pandemic.
We’ll keep reporting, hoping our elected officials will address these issues soon.
The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the source IsItaScam.com and do not necessarily reflect the official position of ‘The Skeptic Files,’ which shall not be held liable for any inaccuracies presented. The information provided within this article is for general informational purposes only. While we try to keep the information up-to-date and correct, there are no representations or warranties, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability of the information in this article for any purpose.
This article is syndicated automatically through a third-party agency from IsItaScam.com.
To view the original article at IsItaScam.com, you can visit https://www.isitascam.com/ny/covid-victims-are-trying-to-clear-their-names/.
