Lee B Posted April 27, 2021 Report Posted April 27, 2021 My second largest client who I have helped get 2 good sized PPP Loans for his corporate business, just received preliminary information strongly suggesting that a fraudulent PPP loan in the amount of $ 150,000 was issued to him personally through a bank back east with whom he has never dealt with. Very Scary! Quote
jklcpa Posted April 27, 2021 Report Posted April 27, 2021 Did the correspondence look legit, or could this be a phishing scam? Quote
Lee B Posted April 27, 2021 Author Report Posted April 27, 2021 First he received a phone call from a large bank back east, which I suspected was a scam. Next he received a Loan Payoff Letter from the SBA, which I have looked at and appears to to be legitimate. First I am having him access his free credit reports, then we will go from there. If someone had enough information to obtain one of these loans in his name, that means they have all of his personal information! Quote
Lee B Posted April 27, 2021 Author Report Posted April 27, 2021 I got through to the SBA and confirmed that a fraudulent loan was issued in my clients name on March 25th for $ 150,000. It turns out it was an EIDL Loan,not a PPP Loan. Quote
JohnH Posted April 28, 2021 Report Posted April 28, 2021 Think it's time for him to consult a lawyer? Problems with the SBA are indeed scary, as one mis-step can spell big trouble. Personally, there's no way I'd get in the middle of that situation, now that the basic facts are known. Quote
Lee B Posted April 28, 2021 Author Report Posted April 28, 2021 The SBA took all of the relevant information from me along with instructions to file a report with the SBA Office of Inspector General. Remember the SBA has already issued tens of Billions of $ in fraudulent loans. Sadly for them it's become routine. The young lady at the SBA that helped me didn't act alarmed or surprised in any way. In one case in NC an accountant received 17 different fraudulent PPP Loans totaling several Million $ Quote
JohnH Posted April 30, 2021 Report Posted April 30, 2021 I respect your judgement and am not criticizing your approach. However, if I were at this point I'd still turn the instructions for filing the report with the SBA over to the client with my recommendation that they take this to a lawyer. This may be a routine matter or it may be a time bomb. Wonder what your E&O insurer would advise? It might be worth asking them. 1 Quote
Lee B Posted April 30, 2021 Author Report Posted April 30, 2021 John, frankly I don't know what the time bomb would be and I don't know what help an Attorney would be. I have already filed the fraud report with the Office of The Inspector General of the SBA,which is all done online. My client has filed a police report with the County Sheriff's Department, and pulled up his credit report with all three major credit reporting agencies which was clean. Anything that has happened in the last 30 to 45 days probably wouldn't show up yet. I did file an extension for my client's personal tax return, which was accepted. I have talked to my client about applying for voluntary IP PINs and either placing fraud alerts or credit freezes with the credit reporting agencies. I have done pretty much all I can do and I don't feel at risk for anything that has happened or I have done Quote
Lion EA Posted April 30, 2021 Report Posted April 30, 2021 The Federal Trade Commission FTC.gov also has a page on ID Theft. And, IRS.gov has a page on ID Theft. I highly recommend credit freezes. Quote
Lee B Posted May 1, 2021 Author Report Posted May 1, 2021 The FTC's official site: https://identitytheft.gov/ Quote
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