SOUTHBORO, MASS. (WHDH) - It was meant to provide some financial cushion for Josh Abrams’ family, but his attempt to cash in on a savings bond became a months-long battle.
Instead of receiving the $11,000 he was owed, the government kept it.
“I was very shocked,” Abrams recalled.
The government sent him a letter in August informing him that the bond money would be used to pay down debt from a paycheck protection loan taken out in his name in 2021.
The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was set up during the pandemic to help struggling small businesses.
“They are saying to me you’ve got this debt,” Abrams explained.
The problem is Abrams said he never took out the loan.
“I do not work for myself. I don’t own my own business. I never even approached a PPP loan and here to find one in my name was disturbing,” he said.
Government records show a nearly $21,000 loan was taken out in Abrams’ name in 2021 for a Southborough construction business. Abrams doesn’t work in construction and doesn’t live in Southborough.
“I was quickly told I was a victim of identity theft and was given instructions on what to do,” Abrams said.
He reported the theft to the Small Business Administration (SBA) which distributed PPP loans and contracted the local police.
“The whole thing is kind of wild. I haven’t thought of PPP loans in a long time. We are a few years past COVID at this point. It’s startling to find out this one has been sitting around for a while unbeknownst to me,” Abrams said.
Five months later, his name hasn’t been cleared from the loan and he hasn’t gotten his bond money back.
Abrams was counting on the bond money to help pay for his son’s first semester of college.
“Tuition, living on campus—it gets expensive,” he said. “Being able to get that money back would certainly settle things down quite a bit.”
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts SBA office told 7 Investigates the agency is “looking into the matter” but denied commenting on Abrams’ case.
Unfortunately, Abrams is among tens of thousands of victims now paying the price for thieves who cashed in during the pandemic.
The SBA Inspector General estimated more than 50,000 PPP loans went to fraudulent recipients. Experts believe this number will continue to grow as more fraud is detected.
“We are still chasing fraud that occurred all these years ago,” said Michael Horowitz. “Sadly, I think people will continue to learn about how they were victimized through identity fraud and identity theft as we go along and find more and more wrongdoing and fraud.”
Horowitz is the inspector general for the U.S. Department of Justice and heads the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC). The committee uncovers how pandemic money was spent and works with law enforcement to track down fraud.
“We’re trying to follow the money, follow the fraudsters and it is often very hard to do at this point because many of them were overseas,” he said.
Many of the processes for distributing funding were loosened during the pandemic to get money out fast. The lowering of those guardrails made it easy for fraudsters to cash in. The full extent of that fraud is still being uncovered.
Across all COVID loans, it is estimated nearly one in every five was fraudulent and totaled more than $200 billion.
“We are frankly overwhelmed with cases and they are taking a fair amount of time to do,” Horowitz explained.
Law enforcement is working on the back end to find these bad actors. In Massachusetts, a business owner was arrested for over $18 million in PPP fraud, and others were charged with filling out PPP applications on behalf of other businesses to obtain $7.5 million.
Government agencies like the SBA have put in place better anti-fraud protocols to prevent large-scale theft in the future.
The SBA told 7 Investigates the agency is working with law enforcement agencies to address fraud.
“The SBA takes fraud seriously, as it undermines the critical support SBA programs provide to small businesses, and protecting the integrity of our programs is a top priority,” a spokesperson wrote.
Horowitz is still pushing for government agencies to get more resources to help victims of identity fraud.
“We see these cases going on for years. We’re talking about the biggest fraud cases in our history. We’re dealing with hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud and it is going to take a lot of time to dig through all those cases,” Horowitz said.
As time ticks on, Abrams and thousands of other victims are left suffering in this loan limbo.
“It is not acceptable,” Abrams said.
You can find out if your name is attached to a PPP loan here: https://www.pandemicoversight.gov/ppp-simple-search-landing
Experts advise everyone to check their credit report to find any debt they may not be aware of. If you find a fraudulent pandemic-related loan, contact the lender and report the identity theft to the SBA.
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