The U.S. Justice Department revealed the results of an extensive crackdown on widespread COVID-19 relief fraud, shedding light on the extent of deceit and manipulation that opportunistic criminals undertook during the global pandemic.

As trillions of dollars were disbursed to Americans and businesses to combat the ramifications of a global public health emergency, fraudulent actors in the U.S. and globally saw an opportunity. 

According to recent data, perpetrators defrauded hundreds of billions of dollars.

The Attorney General created the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force in May 2021 to mobilize resources across the department and government, focusing on identifying, prosecuting, and eventually recouping the stolen amounts.

The operation culminated in over 700 enforcement actions. Enforcement actions pertained to frauds over $830 million.

Already, $200 million has been seized through various legal means. Criminal activities disrupted include a Wisconsin gang's unemployment fraud scheme and an international pandemic relief fraud originating in Nigeria.

But as U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland pointed out, this is just the tip of the iceberg. 

Since the pandemic's onset, close to 3,200 defendants have been charged with alleged losses nearing $1.7 billion. A whopping $1.4 billion in pilfered relief funds have already been seized.

Reuters noted that over $200 billion from the U.S. government's COVID-19 relief programs were potentially stolen, a federal watchdog said in late June, adding that the U.S. Small Business Administration had weakened its controls in a rush to disburse the funds.

In September 2022, the U.S. Labor Department's inspector general reported that malicious actors probably misappropriated $45.6 billion from the U.S. unemployment insurance program amid the pandemic, using methods such as leveraging the Social Security numbers of the deceased. 

Furthermore, a distinct report earlier this year indicated that roughly $5.4 billion in COVID-19 assistance might have been distributed to individuals with suspicious Social Security credentials.