Fraudsters steal pandemic cash in your name, infect business web gateways, and pilfer children’s health insurance money and PII

Suzie Johnson recently received a mailed bill that said she had to start paying back her COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). Suzie was befuddled because she knew nothing about the EIDL program and never applied for one of its loans. She talked to her federal representative, and he advised her to contact the Small Business Administration (SBA) agency to report the problem, which told her that someone had stolen her identity and used it to apply for the loan. SBA then canceled the fraudulent loan, and Suzie’s problem was resolved. This fictitious case is representative of the recent SBA EIDL and PPP loan scam.

If you’ve received a bill for an SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or EIDL loan you never applied for, an identity thief probably has stolen your personally identifiable information (PII) to get the government loan in your name.

Here’s what to do to report the scam and initiate the SBA review process to help you resolve any credit problems:

Step 1. Report the identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at IdentityTheft.gov.

Step 2. Visit the SBA’s website.