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April 15, 2021

Tracking Fraud Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The combination of fear, loosened health care regulations, and unprecedented cash infusions into the economy create fertile ground for health care scams and fraud. Regulatory flexibilities and deficit spending are both reasonable responses to the COVID-19 crisis, but law enforcement and health regulators will have to be vigilant for the bad actors who are exploiting the COVID-19 emergency and defrauding consumers and payers.

From fake vaccines and cures to subpar personal protective equipment to hoarding and price gouging, indictments and arrests are occurring at an alarming rate. Any further efforts by the United States Congress to further stimulate the economy and address implications of the current public health crisis has the potential to open up additional avenues for fraudulent activity.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has taken a number of steps to relax long-established regulatory requirements and processes in the interest of increasing the capacity of the health care system to address COVID-19 and allowing distressed providers to focus solely on patient care. This includes loosening of restrictions around the provision of medication-assisted treatment via telemedicine by the DEA. In so doing, unethical and fringe providers will have the opportunity to engage in wasteful and fraudulent activities in new ways. Where there’s money and demand, there are sure to be crooks.

Below we track COVID-related scammers and fraudsters who have been subject to federal or state law enforcement or regulatory actions. This page is accurate as of April 15, 2021. For more information, please visit the Faegre Drinker COVID-19 Fraud Working Group page or contact the authors below.

What types of charges is law enforcement bringing for COVID-19 fraud?

Law Enforcement Actions
Month Total Actions By Month Charges
Hoarding Price Gouging Anti-Kickback False Claims Mail Fraud Bank Fraud Other
March 5 1 1 1 3 0 0 0
April 27 3 10 0 13 2 0 0
May 13 1 2 0 6 2 0 0
June 20 0 1 0 6 3 0 0
July 14 0 0 1 7 2 0 0
August 24 0 1 0 10 3 0 0
September 26 0 0 0 5 0 0 0
October 17 0 2 0 2 0 0 0
November 10 0 0 0 2 0 0 1
December 23 0 0 0 6 1 0 2
January 14 1 1 0 2 0 0 2
February 11 0 0 0 0 1 4 6
March 22 0 0 0 2 0 6 16
April 20 0 0 0 2 1 4 16
Total 246 6 18 2 66 15 14 43

Table is current as of April 15, 2021


What types of actions are U.S. regulators taking against individuals engaged in alleged COVID-19 fraud?

Regulatory Actions
Month Total Actions By Month Type of Regulatory Action Area of Interest
Warning Letter CMPs CRL Exclusion from Gov. Programs SEC Charges SEC Trading Suspension Other CBD Herbal Treatment Colloidal Silver Robocall COVID Equipment COVID Tests Other
February 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
March 25 24 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 10 5 8 0 0 2
April 124 110 0 0 0 1 14 1 4 37 3 4 4 6 89
May 127 125 0 0 0 2 2 0 5 71 13 3 1 1 46
June 70 67 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 19 5 0 1 2 44
July 28 28 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 3 16
August 13 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 9
September 7 6 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 4
October 10 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 2 0 0 3 1
November 10 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 6
December 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 0 0 0 3
January 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3
February 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 2
March 13 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 8 1 2
April 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 1
Total 453 430 0 0 0 7 19 1 16 167 32 15 14 21 230

Table is current as of April 15, 2021


How many actions have been taken to date?

Combined Enforcement Count
Month Count
February 2
March 30
April 151
May 140
June 90
July 42
August 37
September 33
October 27
November 20
December 32
January 20
February 16
March 35
April 24
Total 699

Table is current as of April 15, 2021


Who is taking action against alleged COVID-19 fraud?

Enforcement Action Count
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 55
Joint FTC/Federal Communications Commission 8
Joint FTC/Small Business Administration 8
State Attorneys General 10
US Attorney's Office (USAO) 236
Joint FDA/FTC 125
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 235
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 23
Total 699

Table is current as of April 15, 2021



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