Fraud is running rampant in the United States as scammers are looking for ways to capitalize on the confusion around the coronavirus outbreak.
According to the Associated Press, scammers are on the rise and they're bilking the United States for millions. In a case that went viral last week, a Silicon Valley engineer tweeted to President Donald Trump to tell him he could come up with millions of N95 masks. The White House told New York to send the man the money, and New York listened, only to eventually learn it was a scam and the masks never came.
The AP cited a separate case where investment manager Christopher A. Parris, who's already under investigation for a Ponzi scheme, pitched himself as a broker for surgical masks. He was asking for $750 million from the Veterans Administration. There were no masks in that case either.
“He was trying to sell something he didn’t even have,” said special agent Jere Miles, who is handling the case with the VA Office of Inspector General. “That’s just outright, blatant fraud.”
Federal authorities reported that a Parris-controlled bank account scored more than $7.4 million from unidentified groups trying to buy personal protective equipment in March and April, the court documents show. Parris then wired some of the money to overseas accounts, including more than $1.1 million to a Swiss company authorities think may be a shell company.
“It’s incredibly rampant and it’s growing by the day,” said Matthew Albence, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “We’re just scratching the surface of this criminal activity. ”
