In July of 2020, the SBA publically released details about loan recipients for both PPP and EIDL loans. Since then, internet sleuths and fraud fighters have been pouring through the data trying to figure out which fake companies might have taken loans.
Now Available – Crowd Sourced Fraud Detection To Root Out PPP Fraud
One guy – Brian Hamachek – decided to take matters into his own hands and use his coding skills to create a website called PPP Detective to help the public root out fraud against the PPP loan program.
He created the website after browsing through PPP loans through his own city and finding some obvious fraud related to businesses that he knew very well.
The concept behind the sight is to allow fraud fighters and citizens to use their local knowledge to help the government fight fraud.
Search Businesses, Find Fraud and Report It
The website provides a simple search bar where you can search by name, address, loan number or even just browse loans in your own zip code.
What makes the site unique however is the fact that they display a picture of the business from Google Street View, as well as providing a button to report fraud directly to the government agencies.
The site works great, as I was able to locate a recent famous case involving Mustafa Qadiri, who claimed to have operated four Newport Beach-based companies, none of which were in operation: All American Lending, Inc., All American Capital Holdings, Inc., RadMediaLab, Inc., and Ad Blot, Inc. Qadiri applied for over $5 million in PPP loans.
Here is one of his companies, Ad Blot, on PPP Detective
Not Everyone Is Happy With The Site
But not everyone is a believer of the site. Some feel it crosses the line and turns the public into “snitches” and hurts businesses.
But I don’t agree with these negative comments. The PPP loan program was absolutely raided by fraudsters and scammers.
Sites like this which can help the public find fraud which impacts tax payers is fine by me. If a business did nothing wrong, they have nothing to worry about.
What do you think?