1、CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress INSIGHTINSIGHTi i Tabulating COVID-19-Related Fraud and Financial Loss March 31, 2021 Fraudsters have leveraged the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to take advantage of both individuals and organizations. Their schemes range fr
2、om posing as representatives of a charitable organization or government agency and tricking individuals into providing money or personally identifiable information (PII), to selling bogus or counterfeit treatments or vaccines for COVID-19 or protective equipment and medical devices, that may or may
3、not be delivered after victims submit payment. Scammers have also tried to use stolen PII to gain access to and steal unemployment benefits and economic impact payments provided pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act; P.L. 116-136) and other legislation aimed a
4、t providing COVID-19-related relief and recovery. While the pandemic has created new opportunities for fraudsters, they still rely upon a number of tried-and-true tools to scam victims or gain access to information, accounts, and resources. For instance, they continue to make robocalls, phish for in
