FILE : A woman picks up free COVID-19 test self-collection kits from the OC Health Care Agency after arriving on a flight at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, CA on Tuesday, Dec.
21, 2021. ( Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) WASHINGTON - Much of the theft was brazen, even simple.Fraudsters used the Social Security numbers of dead people and federal prisoners to get unemployment checks.
Cheaters collected those benefits in multiple states. And federal loan applicants weren’t cross-checked against a Treasury Department database that would have raised red flags about sketchy borrowers.Criminals and gangs grabbed the money.
But so did a U.S. soldier in Georgia, the pastors of a defunct church in Texas, a former state lawmaker in Missouri and a roofing contractor in Montana.RELATED: Congress reaches deal on COVID-19 relief packageAll of it led to the greatest grift in U.S.