Caution with Identity Theft and PPP Loans

I recently spoke with a grower who is in the midst of trying to tackle the fallout of identity theft of his small business.  A lot of time is wasted trying to contact banking, government, and law enforcement institutions.  He was made aware of the issue when he received a notice of his loan payments being due to a loan he never took out.  After careful checking he found that a loan was indeed made in his business's name but he wasn't the recipient of the money.  Now he is trying to clear and clean up the mess.

There are reports of criminals taking advantage of the PPP loan program to either steal personal information and/or use information to take out loans.  Please be aware!  IF you get a notice of a loan payment due, don't disregard it and follow through to see if it is indeed real.

Here is an article from AARP outlining ways to protect yourself from this type of fraud.  https://www.aarp.org/work/small-business/info-2020/ppp-loans-scams-fraud.html

If you suspect a case of PPP fraud contact the SBA's Office of Inspector General online or at 800-767-0385.  You can also file a complaint with the FTC.