They created and used bogus billing documents or statements from legitimate American utility providers, like Florida Power & Light or Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Under SBA rules, lenders wouldn’t be liable if borrowers didn't meet the program’s criteria, meaning normal due diligence wasn’t as urgent as acting expeditiously.īad actors leveraged the leniency of banks and lenders at the time to secure doctored paperwork and perpetrate fraud. The Paycheck Protection Program under the Small Business Administration (SBA) was another target of fraud.īanks had to distribute funds quickly to prevent a pandemic-induced economic crisis.

The Secret Service estimates that more than $100 billion was stolen from a range of programs, including the CARES Act, through fraudsters who claimed to run small businesses in need of funds. For instance, in 2021, the figure was more than $5.8 billion, of which more than $2.3 billion was lost to imposter scams. Congress authorized $669 billion in forgivable pandemic loans.ĭata from the Federal Trade Commission shows that consumers lose billions of dollars to fraud every year. Utility bill scams surged at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly after the U.S. Imposters send out “smishing” text messages or phishing email scams to convince their targets to pay or supply personal or financial information to “sort out a service issue.” Identity thieves create and use fake water, gas, or energy bills to steal personal information, open utility accounts, and run up charges in their victims’ names. One of the common reasons people need fake utility bills is to prove residency at a particular address, especially when opening credit cards, debit cards, or bank accounts. Why might someone create fake utility bills? This guide shares everything you need to know about fake utility bills, how to identify one, and prevent fraud. Some fake documents might fall through the cracks, leading to great financial and reputational losses, which is why you should always be alert to spot false utility bills. Lenders who still rely on manual checks and reviews before approving loans often fall victim to such scams. So they forge your customers' details and signatures on false documents to 'prove' their identity and address before defrauding you and their victims. Identity thieves know lenders receive volumes of credit applications and approve folks for loans or insurance daily. And it's the type of proof needed to ensure an applicant is a resident of the city they claim to be in.īut what happens when someone creates a phony utility bill to scam you out of thousands or millions of dollars? Before you can figure out it’s fake, you approve the funds and wire the money to the provided bank account.

Utility bills: Everyone pays them - or at least those who own or rent a home or business.

Creating fake bank statement