Grift Galore: Billions in COVID-19 relief funds deceitfully obtained

Criminals and ordinary citizens stole billions of dollars in COVID-19 relief aid that was meant to help combat the pandemic and support the economy.
Fraudsters potentially took $280 billion in COVID-19 relief funding, and another $123 billion was wasted or misused, making up 10% of the $4.2 trillion the U.S. government has given out in COVID-relief aid.
The U.S. government did too little to oversee and regulate the aid process early on, making fraud easy to carry out.
The Small Business Administration was impacted the most, handling two massive relief efforts totaling over $1 trillion that had to quickly get money to struggling businesses and workers.
The U.S. government could have cracked down on fraud by using the "Do Not Pay" database and establishing commonsense fraud protections.