There have been 1.2 million complaints of EIDL loan identity theft as of August 2021, according to a report from the Office of the Inspector General titl Top Management and Performance Challenges Facing the Small Business Administration in Fiscal Year 2022. That means over a million business owners believe their business identity has been us to apply for COVID relief loans administer by the Small Business Administration.
I’m one of those victims. Here’s what happen to me, along with steps your business can take to protect itself.
I learn about the fraudulent application because my personal E philippines whatsapp number data xperian crit report I monitor through Nav list an inquiry from “SBA ODA,” but I’ve never appli for a loan from the SBA.
I’ve written extensively about the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDL) since it launch a nationwide loan and grant program to help businesses impact by the coronavirus back in March 2020. So when I spott the inquiry that mention SBA ODA, I knew that acronym stood for the SBA Office of Disaster Assistance, and I also knew that meant someone had likely appli for an EIDL using my identity.
This isn’t my first tangle with ID thieves. A few years ago someon the work of a product manager is somewhat cyclical e open a retail crit card in my name and plac a large order for sneakers. Then in the spring of 2020, I discover crooks were again using my name to apply for crit and stimulus benefits.
An inquiry from a major crit card issuer popp up on my crit report. I hadn’t appli for crit recently, so I call the issuer. They explain there was a pending application for a crit card, but it had not yet been issu. I told them it was fraudulent.
Then an inquiry from a different financial institution appear on my cr uk data it report. This time I learn the would-be crooks had open a bank account in my name. Weeks later I found out they successfully appli for unemployment using my information, even though I was employ full-time at Nav. Fortunately. The bank froze the check that was deposit from my state unemployment agency before they could cash it. (A second bank account was open in my name but I was able to close it down quickly before any activity took place.)
I already had a fraud alert on my crit reports
Unlike the other times when I was able to call. The financial institutions in question, I wasn’t successful in finding a way to talk with someone from the Small Business. Administration to alert them or to find out what was going on. And since SBA EIDL loans don’t show up on personal or business crit reports. T have no way of knowing whether there is an. SBA loan outstanding with my name attach to it. (SBA EIDL loans for more than $25,000 result in a UCC-1 filing that would. Tppear on my business crit reports, but so far I haven’t seen one on my crit reports.)
I’m in the process of filing an identity theft report with the SBA. Ironically. The only option they provide for doing so involves sending a form with personal information and a copy of my. ID to them by email; not exactly what I consider the most secure method of communication.