Scamming pandemic relief

Post Reports

The Washington Post

Daily News, Politics, News

4.4 • 5.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2021

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How scammers raked in millions of dollars in pandemic relief fraud schemes. Advice for vaccinated parents about what to do with their unvaccinated kids. And, what we know about the origin of covid-19.

Last week, the Justice Department announced that it had charged hundreds of scammers who targeted the trillions of dollars made available through federal aid programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans program. Reporter Matt Zapotosky explains how the thieves worked, how they were caught and what the consequences have been — for the scammers and the scammed.

As more adults become vaccinated against the coronavirus, some vaccinated parents might find themselves in a quandary — while they may be protected, allowing for more freedom in socializing or engaging in other routine activities, their children are not. Wellness reporter Allyson Chiu discusses what that means for summer camp and play dates.

The World Health Organization has released its findings into the origin of the coronavirus. Foreign affairs reporter Emily Rauhala explains the controversy around the report and the answers it has left unanswered.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the newsroom of the Washington Post, Hi there is the mayor, Marissa Lang with the Washington
0:10.2	Post.
0:11.2	Hey it's Dossi, I want to pick your brain on the platform.
0:13.7	Hi this is Post Reports.
0:15.4	I'm Alexis D.O. in for Martin Powers.
0:21.0	It's Tuesday March 30th.
0:25.1	Today, how scammers targeted millions in pandemic aid, advice for vaccinated parents, and what
0:32.3	we know about the origin of COVID.
0:40.6	The Justice Department revealed at the end of March that they have charged 474 people
0:46.4	over the past year with trying to steal more than $569 million through various criminal
0:52.9	fraud schemes related to the coronavirus pandemic and that they seized at least $580 million
0:59.5	in civil proceedings connected to fraud schemes from one particular aid program.
1:04.6	And all of this just really shows how susceptible these aid programs have become to scammers
1:12.9	and how much fraud there is sort of targeting these government initiatives meant to ease
1:18.1	the economic burden of the crisis.
1:21.4	Matt Sepatowski covers the Justice Department for the Post.
1:24.9	He spoke with audio producer Renys Fernovsky about what that investigation uncovered.
1:32.6	So what programs are we talking about here that the scammers were able to take advantage
1:37.8	of?
1:38.8	There's really three that we're talking about.
1:41.2	The first is the paycheck protection program.
1:44.3	People commonly know this as PPP.
	...

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