Vice President Kamala Harris’ plan to provide $20,000 in forgivable loans to minority entrepreneurs is a perfect opportunity for scammers and fraudsters, experts told The Daily Caller.

Harris announced the plan as part of her own plan in early October.Opportunity Agenda for Black Men” The organization will provide 1 million fully forgivable loans worth up to $20,000 each to Black entrepreneurs and others who have historically faced barriers to starting new businesses and growing their businesses. It promises to “ensure that Black men can build wealth and achieve financial success.” existing business. ”

The loan will be made in partnership with the Small Business Administration (SBA), which also oversees the administration of the coronavirus-era program Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). I was going to give Resources for small businesses “to maintain payroll, rehire employees who may have been laid off, and cover applicable overhead costs.”

But the program was the target of a large-scale fraud scheme, which was “the largest single transfer to a criminal group in history,” said LexisNexis Risk Solutions Government CEO. Heywood Talcove told The Daily Caller.

The rate of fraud in coronavirus-era payment plans like the PPP is “conservatively 20 percent,” and “probably closer to 35 percent,” Talcove told the Caller. Talcove said the percentage could reach 50%, taking into account the efforts of large transnational criminal organizations. If Harris’ plan were to fail at a similar rate, taxpayers would lose billions of dollars. (Stream “CLEANING UP KAMALA” now)

Talcove told the Caller that of the hundreds of billions of dollars that people may have stolen through coronavirus relief programs, the government has recovered only $13 billion.

In fact, abuse of COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) similar to PPP fraud is so widespread that the Pandemic Response Responsibility Committee (PRAC) extended The statute of limitations for crimes will increase from five years to 10 years in 2023.

In addition to scams by multinational groups from countries such as China, Russia, Nigeria and Romania, Americans also appear to be taking widespread advantage of coronavirus relief, Talcove said.

The government has fully forgiven PPP loans for businesses such as:Free Money LLCThe business received a $15,000 PPP loan forgiven in 2021, according to ProPublica. (Related article: Man sentenced to 9 years in prison for misappropriating $1.6 million in PPP loans for Rolex cars)

Other frowned-upon companies that received pardons include:Money Makes Money Co., Ltd.” and “nig corporation”

Something like this? https://t.co/HUFW4dCpqg pic.twitter.com/wC8HzzTj5h

— Confirmed miser ⚔️🍁🔫 (@ManDaveJobGood) October 14, 2024

PRAC also found that in 2023, there were 69,323 people with potentially ineligible Social Security numbers who received PPP loans, according to the report.

It seems likely that Harris’ new plan will similarly fall victim to exploitation.

“When government-sponsored subsidies are provided to large numbers of people, there is a 100% chance that improper payments or fraud will occur,” Talkove said.

“History has shown that when large sums of money flow out quickly and with inadequate oversight, it opens the door to fraud and fraud,” Republican Texas Representative Michael Cloud told the Daily Caller. “I’m working on it,” he said.

Talcove said criminals are already discussing ways to exploit the program on platforms such as Telegram.

Twitter users are also quick to point out how easy they believe it is to deceive the government.

“I think they just announced that Kamala Harris will be able to do the PPP loan fraud again if she takes office,” said one user. I wrote.

I think Kamala Harris just announced that if she takes office, she can do the PPP loan fraud again. 👀👀👀 pic.twitter.com/N9OflMuvzG

— Easy Money💳💎 (@Bitcoin_Teej) October 14, 2024

“$20,000 isn’t enough money to start a food truck, it’s too little to warrant a serious investigation into abuse, but it’s just the right amount to buy a used car or a nice vacation.” said another.

$20,000 isn’t enough money to start a food truck, but while it’s too small to warrant a serious investigation into abuse, it’s just the right amount to buy a used car or a nice vacation. https://t.co/NYCH1yWf7m

— Anechoic Media (@AnechoicMedia_) October 15, 2024

The federal government takes little responsibility for fraud.

The House Oversight Committee, whose members include Representative James Comer, Republican of Kentucky, and Congressman Cloud, probe Nearly $200 billion in funds stolen in coronavirus scams has been recovered.

I’m going to have the support of American taxpayers.

So on February 1st, @GOPoversight To highlight the rampant waste of taxpayers’ $$$ in coronavirus relief programs, we will hold the first public hearing titled “Federal Pandemic Spending: A Prescription for Waste, Fraud, and Abuse.” @BloombergTV pic.twitter.com/WZWhsrhyrK

— Congressman James Comer (@RepJamesComer) January 28, 2023

“The Biden-Harris Administration has allowed widespread fraud in federal unemployment programs and is now moving rapidly toward making the Pandemic Unemployment Program permanent,” Comer said in the report.

Despite the committee’s recommendations, which include prioritizing outdated IT systems and verifying applicants’ proof of work, federal accountability for the program remains lacking, Cloud told the Caller. .

“Forgivable loans theoretically come with conditions that must be met in order to be forgiven, such as job creation or measurable contribution to the economy. However, in practice, many of these programs end up functioning more like handouts because they lack the rigorous oversight necessary to ensure true accountability,” Cloud said.

Talcove agreed. (Related: ‘Rigging’: The Death of the American Voter | Watch Now)

“When an emergency situation occurs, such as during the novel coronavirus infection, [the government says] I’ll go get the money later. Let’s stop the criminals later, okay? But in reality, paying money to chase them doesn’t work. ”

“No one talks about victims,” ​​said Talcove, who told the caller that her mother was the victim of identity theft. “These are not victimless crimes. There are people who needed this benefit, but their identities were bought for pennies on the dark web and they never got what they deserved.”

Rep. Cloud said Harris’ race-based plan is not only susceptible to fraud, but is also “unconstitutional.”

“[It’s] “It’s a ridiculous thing to propose at a time when our country is currently incredibly divided and all Americans are struggling to afford essentials under her administration,” he said.