alerts & publications

Fraud Intelligence: Pandemic Predators – Covid-19 Fraud Schemes

O’Melveny partner Laurel Loomis Rimon and counsel Braddock Stevenson co-authored this Fraud Intelligence article discussing common scams seen in the US and Europe amid the Covid-19 pandemic, how banks might be unknowingly implicated, and red flags to watch out for.

“While initial government efforts to prevent and prosecute fraudulent activities have naturally been focused on the most egregious individual actors, US enforcement trends will soon shift to include a focus on entities that may have facilitated the activity of the fraudsters,” write Rimon and Stevenson. “Of the CARES Act programmes susceptible to fraud, financial institutions, including non-US institutions, should give particular attention to the enhancement of unemployment benefits, the provision of Economic Impact Payments, and government assistance to businesses.  These programmes are highly susceptible to foreign fraudulent schemes that either prey on unsophisticated individuals in the United States or on the federal agencies that administer the programmes.”

Fraud Intelligence subscribers can read the full article here.