ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — For eight months, the federal government garnished hundreds of dollars from a man’s Social Security check to pay off a fraudulent COVID relief loan he never took out.
Tim Fessenden was the victim of identity theft five years ago when someone used his name to apply for a COVID payroll loan. The Small Business Administration approved the loan.
Starting in November and continuing through June, the U.S. Treasury took 15% of his Social Security check to pay it off. Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean obtained the letter from the Treasury Department showing it was taking out $342 a month to pay off the balance of the fraudulent loan.
The garnishment stopped in June after Fessenden got Sen. Chuck Schumer’s office involved. In a statement, Schumer said “an innocent victim of identity theft was wrongly punished by the Small Business Administration and that his office helped right that wrong.”
In July, Fessenden got a letter from the SBA saying it accepted his attestation that his ID was stolen and that he doesn’t owe anything.
“It’s been stressful not knowing a lot of the details right out of the gate,” Fessenden said. “And then it appeared that there was somebody that had the ability to take funds that was owed to me.”
Fessenden is just the latest double victim. We’re tracking other cases where people’s names were used to get fraudulent COVID loans and now the government is coming after them.
In June, the Small Business Administration transferred half a million fraudulent COVID loans to the Treasury which sent them to collections. That’s why the victims of the fraud are now getting these collection letters.
In his statement, Schumer urged anyone experiencing this to contact his office. Anyone with information can also email News10NBC at 10investigates@whec.com.
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